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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22541668">Searching Skyward</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/EchoFour/pseuds/EchoFour'>EchoFour</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Hybridization [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Steven Universe (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adventure &amp; Romance, F/M, Gem origins, Includes elements from Steven Universe: Future, Magic and Science, No permanent character death, Post-Steven Universe: The Movie, Survival, Transhumanism, hybrid Connie, not really that much violence but better safe than sorry</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 09:27:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>31,421</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22541668</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/EchoFour/pseuds/EchoFour</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Six years have passed since Connie fused with her own gem and became a hybrid like Steven. The two of them have settled into a life together, enjoying their hard-earned peace and allowing themselves a break. But an accident forces Connie to consider the cost of waiting and starts her and Steven down the path towards creating a future where all humans have the same chance at hybridization.</p><p>On their way, they find that the secrets of the gems are well-kept even from the gems themselves. To create their future, first they need to find the original designs for the gems, to learn why gems drain life and discover if there can be a better way to create them. But they aren't the only ones searching for those origins, and information isn't the only thing to be found there. Connie and Steven will be forced to make hard choices and grapple with gems who don't want anyone to have a choice at all as they search the skies and stars to build a new world.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe, Doug Maheswaran/Priyanka Maheswaran</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Hybridization [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1520681</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>213</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>219</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Breakdown</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Welcome to fic number 3 of Hybridization! If you're new to the series but you're still interested in this Connverse adventure, I have prepared you a short summary of the most important events so far:</p><p>-Connie fused with a turquoise gem to catch up with Steven, who she felt was leaving her behind as he gained power and influence. The off-color gem caused her skin to be covered with teal lines.<br/>-Her gem grants her the basic gem power set while also giving her hard-light panels she can create and move, the ability to swap places with other similarly-sized things (such as other people) in a short-ranged teleport, and a full-body armor as her gem weapon.<br/>-She and Steven fought off a group of separatists wanting to reinstate most of the old gem ways.<br/>-She spent a year being human as much as possible, working out a romantic relationship with Steven, and learning gem tech with Peridot and Lapis.<br/>-Her main future goal is to find a way to make gems which doesn't harm the earth to allow for more gems and more gem-human hybrids, but as of the end of Catching Up she's decided to take it easy for a while and live her own life before diving into trying to change the world.</p><p>This first chapter has the potential to be a bit of a shock, so there are some content warnings in the end notes. </p><p>I hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Connie's simple life with Steven is interrupted by an awful accident.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Sunlight streamed through the blinds on a late winter morning, gently rousing Connie from her slumber as the room began to warm. She let her eyes flutter open and fumbled for her phone, glancing at the time. Half past nine. She should really be getting up. But there were excellent reasons to stay in bed a little longer.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She rolled over and cuddled up to her fiancé, letting his warmth seep into her. Even half-asleep, his arm slipped around her and he rumbled a little in happy recognition. She giggled and put her head on his chest, breathing in his warm familiar scent. “Good morning, Steven.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“G’morn, ‘berry,” he mumbled back. Reaching up to play with her hair, he let out a massive yawn. “Time?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nine thirty.” Connie relaxed against him, eyes closing from the lovely feeling of his hand teasing her hair around. “Anything you have planned today?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven was slow to respond, still waking a little as he sifted through her words. “Just helping dad with one of Sadie and Shep’s shows tonight. Lars is on Earth for a while too, so I’m gonna see him this morning. I’m open all afternoon.” He squeezed her against his chest and she sighed pleasantly. “What about you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m going out with dad this morning, remember?” She let her hands roam all over him, just enjoying the moment of closeness. “New Year's gift shopping for mom.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And for me.” He grinned at her, eyes finally opening. “Right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I will neither confirm nor deny that I might shop for you too.” Connie giggled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t know how you’ll manage that.” He blinked away sleep and looked at her with loving, half-lidded eyes. “I already have everything I could ever want.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She beamed back, wiggling happily a little. Then she pinched his knee to tickle him and he squeaked in surprise. “Liar. I saw you eyeing that quadcopter drone on TV.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s got a cool camera on it!” He reached down and pulled her hand away, rolling to pin her shoulders with a pout. She felt his warm hand squeeze around her gem. “Seeing stuff from that high up would be cool!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie laughed, struggling and wrestling with him. “Steven, you can float. I can </span>
  <em>
    <span>fly.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Stevonnie can do both. And we can get a ride into space whenever we want. Why would you want to see from a drone cam?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because it’s cool!” He repeated with a grin, still able to keep her down. “I’m allowed to like cool stuff!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How old are you again?” She squirmed, testing her legs, and in a flash she had them around him, twisting and shifting to get on top of him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven looked up at her, eyes wide at the sudden reversal of fortunes. “Twenty-five.” He flushed a little, panting from the effort of wrestling. “You’re so beautiful.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie flushed back, hair hanging down in a mess around her face. “I love you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He craned up, and she obliged him with a kiss. She let his arms go and they embraced. “I love you too,” he whispered back. “So much.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She nuzzled into his neck. “I’m so happy to have you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Me too.” She felt a tiny nip on her ear that sent a shiver down her spine. “How do you feel?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She weighed temptation for a moment. “I feel like… not right now. Don’t wanna need a shower.” She gave back a gentle bite on his neck. “But definitely tonight.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll be waiting, then.” He kissed her before she pulled away. “Getting up?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.” She rolled off and stood up, wincing as her feet hit the cold wood floor. “One of us has to make breakfast, and you’re still on time-out from the waffle debacle.” She stepped onto a hard-light panel to save her feet from the cold, levitating it towards the bathroom like her own personal hoverboard.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Savory waffles </span>
  <em>
    <span>will</span>
  </em>
  <span> be a thing!” He called after her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mushrooms and maple syrup will </span>
  <em>
    <span>never</span>
  </em>
  <span> be a thing!” She yelled back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie’s life had taken a turn for the simple since she’d graduated college. (Summa cum laude with a bachelor’s in political science, as she was proud to tell anyone who asked.) She’d waited a long time to be sure things would work out, but once she was finished with her degree, she just had no reason </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>to move in with Steven. They’d weathered enough trials in their relationship already that they both knew they were going the distance. The beach house had been remodeled yet again, for once without being destroyed by gems first, and the top floor was now a little home for two. They’d probably outgrow it and want their own place eventually, but for now? It suited them both just fine.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She’d asked him to live with her for six months before he proposed, six months to be absolutely one hundred percent sure that they could fit in a home together. And six months to the day after she moved in, they were engaged. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven was never much for patience. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’d been nearly two years since then, but they were in no rush to tie the knot. They lived together. They were in love. They’d both grown in little spurts to full adulthood, and now they didn’t seem to be getting any older. Why hurry?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They’d settled into a lazy pattern. Little Homeschool was running without Steven’s intervention. Times when his assistance was required on Homeworld or the freed colonies were few and far between, and he kept it that way by design. Connie still had her ambition of learning how gems were made and trying to change it, making more gem-human hybrids like herself and Steven possible in the future. But she wasn’t hurrying that, either. She helped where she was asked, volunteered sometimes when she saw a need she could fill, and otherwise enjoyed her life, writing and drawing a little on hobby projects just to keep herself occupied. Her life was simple, but it was full of music and family and love, and she couldn’t be happier with it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie dressed before she headed downstairs to the kitchen. Pearl and Amethyst were already about, Amethyst gaming while Pearl tapped at her phone with a smile. Pearl looked up as she entered. “Good morning, Connie!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yo, C-dog.” Amethyst didn’t bother looking at her. “Up late?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, just sleeping in.” She smiled brightly back at Pearl. “Nothing planned today?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not at the moment, though that may change.” Pearl gave her phone a knowing smile. “Depending on how this text message is received.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amethyst laughed. “Hot date, P?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s none of your business, Amethyst.” Pearl smirked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie giggled as she walked to the kitchen and started heating a pan for veggie bacon and eggs. Good, simple food.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Good, simple life.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>By the time Steven came down, she had breakfast ready for both of them. Steven laid it out while she collected the grease in a shot glass for Amethyst. “Morning, handsome.” She sat down next to him and kissed his cheek.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He returned the favor. “Morning, beautiful. How long do I have you for?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Until dad gets here, I guess.” Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she groaned as she read the message. “Five minutes?! Geez, dad, give a girl some warning.” She started shoveling down breakfast.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t choke,” Steven warned with a grin as he watched her devour her eggs. “Truly you are the pinnacle of grace under fire.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She pouted, cheeks puffed out, and stuck out her tongue with some egg on it, drawing a disgusted laugh from Steven before she finished up with a glass of water. “Well, I guess I gotta get going.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Careful on the roads,” Steven noted. “There’s still some ice from yesterday.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hopefully dad lets me drive.” She threw on her coat and scarf and gave him one last kiss. “See you later, Biscuit.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“See you, Strawberry.” He smiled at her back as she ran outside.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She didn’t want to see her dad try to drive on the snowy beach, so she started jogging up the beach towards town, cold white snow and brown sand crunching and flying beneath her feet. She gulped deep breaths of lovely cold air and took in the ice-blue sky as she ran. It was such a beautiful day. She’d have to go for a run in the woods later. Maybe she could convince Steven to accompany her if they had time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She spotted her dad’s car near the edge of the beach and headed that way. She’d have to hope shopping wouldn’t run too long.</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>Connie sighed, leaning against the window on the way back home from Arundel. She watched the half-moon hanging in the starry sky.  “I was hoping we’d have some daylight left.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, honey.” Her dad shrugged. “Your mom is hard to shop for.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t have any trouble,” she grumbled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, you’re her daughter. Your gift is always appreciated.” Doug chuckled as he signaled to pass slower traffic. “Mine will be</span>
  <em>
    <span> judged.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really?” Connie didn’t try hiding her surprise. “Mom always seemed happy no matter what.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, yeah, she’ll </span>
  <em>
    <span>say</span>
  </em>
  <span> that, but trust me, I can tell when she’s unhappy about it. She’d never say anything, but she gets in a bad mood for days.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie cast her mind back to days after New Year's Day. “I thought she was always just unhappy about having to work around the holiday.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, that’s true too. But I can tell the difference between regular holiday burnout and ‘I didn’t like your gift attempt’ grumpiness.” They laughed together, and he yawned. “Ah. Should’ve caught a nap before coming out here.” He shook his head to clear it. “Let’s just talk, that’ll keep my head straight. Anything new, Connie?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not really. You know how it is since we decided to take a step back from gem stuff.” She went back to staring out the window. “We’re just enjoying life right now. Taking things one day at a time. It’s nice.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re lucky you’ve got so much support. Your mom and I would never have gotten away with not having jobs at twenty-four.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I was five, so that makes sense.” She smirked to herself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She could feel the pause as he rolled his eyes. “Yes, I know, you’ve been more careful. Your mother and I didn’t have the luxury of magical selective fertility, you know. We were young and in love and goofed up.” He sighed. “Wasn’t easy. But you were worth it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That hit home. She rubbed her red face. “Thank you, dad.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He reached over to pat her knee, and they sat in silence for a little while. They were still ten miles from the beach. “Any idea when you plan to start working on your future goals?” He asked, pressing a little. “You know, your mother and I don’t mind waiting, but knowing any possibility of grandkids is locked behind a magical treasure hunt does make us kinda invested in your progress.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She scoffed. “It’s not a </span>
  <em>
    <span>magical treasure hunt.</span>
  </em>
  <span> It’s a research plan. And, well, we don’t know. It’s gonna be hard and take time. We’ll get there. Steven and I could be exploring the former colonies for months or years if Homeworld doesn’t have the information I need. We want some time to ourselves before we dive into a huge, long-term project like that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And two years of time to yourselves isn’t enough?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe. I’ll think about it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just don’t expect to stop getting questions. Your mom wanted me to tell you—” The wheel jerked in her father’s hands as he turned it, and the car lurched. His voice rose in panic. “Oh shit, Conn—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There wasn’t any warning. They hit a patch of dark ice at just the wrong moment when her father went to change lanes, and before he could react they were crashing into the rail of a low bridge at sixty-five. Connie screamed. On instinct, her armor appeared on her body, blue light flaring to life in the dark car. Gravity warped as the car tilted and spun, tumbling over the rail. The metal screeched and tore around them, overpowering their cries of terror. There was a sickening drop, a crushing pressure as the roof caved in, and suddenly everything went very still.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie wasn’t sure if she had been knocked out. Everything was floaty and strange. She felt herself pulled towards the ceiling, but the roof of the car had deformed and pressed in. She reached down to her seatbelt. It wasn’t coming as easily as it should’ve, and she realized it was because her hands were shaking. She was still glowing, covered in hard-light armor that had barely cracked from the sudden impact. She thanked the stars for hybrid durability and her defensive power set, and let the armor fade.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A low moan from the seat next to her froze her in place.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie became a flurry of activity. No time to undo the seatbelt; she ripped it in half and found herself falling the half-foot to the crushed roof. She whimpered a little, desperate as she fumbled in the dark for the car door. It was bent in, of course, glass cracked and metal twisted, but hybrid strength made short work of it. The frame screeched in protest, and it fell on deaf ears. Connie crawled free, ignoring the burning in her legs as the torn metal dragged against them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie heard another cough, wet and pained, and the pain in her legs was below even being ignored. For the next few moments, it did not exist. Her dad needed her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She stumbled around the car, ignoring shouts from up on the bridge. No one was equipped to help like she was. She racked her brain for a moment, searching for a way to get him out safely, and a method came to her. She lay down on the snow and grass, and with a burst of energy from her turquoise, space warped around her. Suddenly her father was groaning from outside the car, and she was the one back in his seat, their places traded. Again the seatbelt was torn, the ruined steering wheel broken and thrown aside, and the door torn from the hinges.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The seat she was in was wet and Connie was terrified to find out why.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pain took her breath away as the shallow wounds on her legs once again caught on glass and metal, but Connie was free, tumbling into snow that burned with cold but soothed her cut legs. She crawled towards her father, hands fumbling for her phone. She raised it as a light and what she saw drove the breath from her lungs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her father was bruised nearly everywhere she could see, vivid purples and green tattooing his skin, obvious even in the dim light of the screen. His eyes were unfocused, and his breath came in shallow, wheezing bursts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And a deep, dark tear in his side was turning the snow red as she watched.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, no no no no,” Connie muttered as she forced herself closer. “Dad. Come on.” Her hands moved on their own, tearing strips from his shirt, pressing into the bleeding hole. He hissed, but still didn’t speak. “Dad? Can you hear me? Oh, stars, please. Dad?” Her voice trembled more with each word. She wasn’t a healer. She knew the basics, but she wasn’t Steven.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Steven.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Her right hand kept pressure while her other hand flew back to her phone. Her fingers shook from fear and adrenaline and desperation, and she kept messing up her passcode. “Fuck. Please. Fuck! Come on!” Finally she got in, and with two taps she was calling Steven. She hit the speakerphone and tossed it into the snow, both hands back on her father. It rang once, twice, three times, and she let out a whimper. He had to answer. Please. He had to.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And he did. She could hear Sadie singing in the background as he picked up. “Hey, Strawberry, what’s up?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Steven!” His name tore from her lips as a desperate scream. “Me, my dad. We crashed. He’s bleeding a lot.” She looked down at the growing dark spot in the snow and choked back a sob. “Steven, oh, fuck, it’s a lot. I need you. I need you </span>
  <em>
    <span>now</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a short pause, then a burst of wind crackled on the line like static. Steven shouted over it. “I see Lion! Connie, sweetie, hold on. I’m coming. Where are you?” Another burst of wind; </span>
  <em>
    <span>he must be falling,</span>
  </em>
  <span> she thought.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s, uh, it’s a bridge nine and a half miles west of Beach City. Highway 30.” Her teeth chattered. She was so cold. “Steven, please. Hurry.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her father’s head lolled towards her, his lips moving silently, and she leaned in close to hear. “Dad? Come on, talk to me, dad. Keep talking. Steven’s coming. Everything’s gonna be okay.” She gave him a weak smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He coughed again, something wet and hot hitting her cheek. She barely heard the name that followed. “Priya?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s Connie, dad.” She giggled hysterically. “I look like her, right? Your glasses fell off in the crash. You remember the crash? Talk about the crash with me. Come on, dad. Talk!” His eyes clouded again, staring at something behind her, and she trembled from head to toe. “Dad?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nothing. No answer, not even another movement of his head. In a panic she pressed her head to his chest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Silence.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.” She lifted herself and pressed her shaking hands there, leaving his side open. It wasn’t like he was bleeding anymore, not without—</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She grit her teeth and started pumping. Two per second, one, two, one, two. She had to keep his heart pumping. If she could keep him alive for just a few seconds, just another minute, Steven would be here. He could fix everything.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Something broke under her hands. She kept going.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She heard a gasp behind her, someone from the bridge calling 911. They weren’t going to make it in time. She kept going.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tears streamed down her face and onto her hands, hot as they fell but freezing on her skin. She kept going.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven might’ve taken one minute or twenty, she didn’t know. Every moment of this stretched on into infinity. But eventually she heard a roar. The gully under the bridge filled with blinding pink light as Lion and Steven appeared from a portal, drawing screams of fright and sending the other drivers scurrying to their cars. He bounded from Lion towards her, and only once he was there did she finally stop. Steven raised a hand to his mouth as tears started falling. “Connie. Oh, gosh.” She stumbled back to give him space, and Steven obliged without another word. He grimaced as he pressed a spit-covered hand to her father’s bruised chest. She waited, her heart in her throat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nothing happened.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven looked up at her, his eyes red even in the darkness. “Connie, I’m sorry,” he choked out. “It’s not working.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The ground opened beneath her and she was falling. Wind howled in her ears. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening. He wasn’t even fifty yet. He couldn’t be gone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She wouldn’t allow it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bring him back,” she heard herself say from miles away. “Use your tears. Bring him back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven froze. “Connie. Do you think he… would he want that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>care </span>
  </em>
  <span>if he wants it.” She shuddered, stumbling on shaking legs towards him. “Steven. Please. He’s my dad. I can’t lose my dad.” She fell against Steven, clutching him tight as she begged. “You can’t let me lose my dad.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was stiff for a moment, frozen like everything else in this icy ditch. But he melted, placing a hand on her back. “Okay,” he murmured. “I’ll try.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She walked with him to her father. There was no shortage of tears to be had, and he let a few fall, glittering brightly in the moonlight as they splashed onto his chest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For a moment, the tears just sat there, mingling with old blood and melted snow. Connie couldn’t breathe. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Please please please please—</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Bright pink light erupted from her father’s chest and flowed outward. Bones snapped and joints popped as they moved back into place. Torn skin flowed together, leaving dark magenta scars behind. Bruises were covered and erased by the light. It reached his head and Doug groaned, body arching in the snow before collapsing again. “Connie?” He fumbled in the snow, pushing himself up to look for her. “Oh, god. Connie?!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dad!” She dove at him, shaking with sobs as she wrapped her arms around him. She felt him start, but having her safe was enough explanation for the moment. He hugged her back, and she cried harder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven stood to the side with Lion, watching them and letting them have their moment. It wasn’t until he heard sirens that he spoke again. “Um… I know you need a moment, but we have to go. I don’t know what’ll happen if an ambulance finds us like this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie sniffled, but she stood right away. “Right. You’re right.” She held out a hand, and her dad pulled himself to his feet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t understand. We’re alright. What could they have against—” As he gestured towards Steven, Doug caught sight of his hand in the moonlight. He blinked and held it out again, his breath hitching as recognition filled his eyes. “…Oh,” he said softly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lion can take us,” Steven suggested gently. “We’ll go home. And… explain some things.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right.” Her father let his hand fall. “That’s for the best.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie took his arm and helped guide him towards Lion. They mounted up, and he held her waist far tighter than he needed to. She put a hand on his and squeezed. “It’s gonna be okay, dad.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A portal roared into being, and they leapt through.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>CW: Blood, descriptions of injury, temporary character death, car crashes.</p><p>Sorry to be a bit graphic, but I was working through some personal stuff when I wrote this, and car crashes are... well, they're not nice. Luckily, they have magic.</p><p>Next chapter should go up later this week. You'll notice they're a bit shorter this time, about 3000 words instead of my normal 6000. I'm going to test doing 3 chapters every 2 weeks and see if I can sustain that pace to the end, but if I get bogged down I might switch to weekly instead.</p><p>Hope to see you next time!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Resolution</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Connie and Steven face the events of the evening and come to a conclusion.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Connie didn’t know how she could possibly tell her mom what had happened. She called the hospital to explain, but in the end she could only force herself to say </span>
  <em>
    <span>Come home now.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Some things needed to be seen to be believed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Priyanka nearly threw the door off the hinges when she arrived. She strode through the doorway, ready to take charge of whatever situation was at hand. But she saw Doug first, and whatever words she had prepared were snatched from her mouth. She’d seen Lars. She knew what she was looking at. Her hand flew to her mouth and she barely held in a scream, stifling it down to a horrified whimper.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Priya.” He looked up from his clasped hands. His clothes were still torn by the accident, still stained ruddy brown with dried blood. She could see scars on his side, nearly purple against the dark pink skin.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She ran and knelt in front of him. “Doug? Oh my god, what happened? You look like you—” She cut herself off. Priyanka had seen Lars and Lion. She knew what this meant.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He stared at her, but his eyes were vacant and unfocused as he finished the thought she had started. “I died.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Connie put a hand on his arm and saw her mother flinch in surprise. Her focus on her husband had been so absolute that she hadn’t even noticed Connie on the couch beside him. “There was an accident,” she explained. She kept her voice soft and level. She had cried her tears, and she would save the rest for later. She would be strong now. “Dad was driving, and there was a little ice on a bridge, and we went over the side. And, me, you know how tough I am. But dad was hurt.” Her lip quivered and she pressed it tight, trying to tamp the rising pain back down. “I took—I got dad out of the car. Laid him out in the snow. But he was b-bleeding a lot. I tried, I did what you showed me. I made bandages. And staunched it. But there was so much, mom, and I couldn’t—” Connie gasped, tears springing past her defenses. “I called Steven, and I tried so hard, mom, I promise, I tried everything but it wasn’t enough, and when Steven got there I couldn’t think of anything to do except—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Connie.” Her mother’s voice cut Connie’s rambling apology short. Priyanka wrapped her arms around her daughter and husband and pulled them together. “Whatever this means, we’ll get through it. You’re both here and alive and, and… that’s enough.” She held them tight, trembling a little but somehow even now holding herself together.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m so sorry, Priya,” her father murmured. “I should’ve been more careful. I knew there was ice, but I was tired and distracted. I could’ve killed us both.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t talk like that,” Priyanka insisted. “It happened. We’ll survive it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It was my fault.” He pressed his face into his wife’s shoulder and sobbed. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” He kept repeating it over and over, and Priyanka soothed him as best she could.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Connie cried with her parents, trying the whole time to stop herself. But they’d never been this hurt before, never let her see their pain so clearly. She couldn’t help but share in it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They didn’t stop until someone knocked at the door. Connie was the first to find her voice. “Come in!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Steven opened the door, leading Lars into the house. “Sorry to run off right away, but I thought, well, he can probably help you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lars shuffled his feet, keeping his eyes on the ceiling. “So, I hear that it, uh… happened again.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It did,” Connie replied. She didn’t know what else she could say.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So… that’s rough. But I’ve, uh, got some experience with it. I’m on Earth for a couple more days. I could stay for a while. Talk through some of the things you should expect.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We’d appreciate that, Lars.” Doug wiped his eyes and cleared his throat. “Anything you could tell us would be very helpful.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah. Sure thing, ah… Mr. Maheswaran?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Call me Doug.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Connie’s mother squeezed her hand. “Connie, you’ve had a long night. We’ll be here in the morning. Go home and get some rest.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?” Connie squeezed back hard enough to make her mother wince before she caught herself. “Oh, gosh, sorry. I can’t leave! What if I know something he needs? I’ve been magic for years, he can—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He can wait until morning.” Priyanka was firm, the kind of firm that Connie knew from experience would bend to no argument. “Go home and rest, Connie. You went through the same thing as your father or worse. You’re exhausted. I won’t allow you to break yourself trying to help us.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Connie closed her eyes, searching herself for any arguments she could muster, and she came up empty. Her mom was right. Even that moment of introspection was enough to feel the weariness that had seeped deep into her bones. “Steven?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lion’s outside,” he confirmed. “He can get us home if you’re ready.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright.” She hugged her parents one more time. “Love you both. We’ll see you tomorrow.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She and Steven left, catching the first bit of Lars explaining being pink to her drained and confused parents before the door closed and the portal opened.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Connie wanted to sleep. It was late when they got home, and by the time Steven had helped her clean off all the sweat and grease and blood, it was later still. They should’ve been asleep long before they got into bed together.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But neither of them could push it out of their minds.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eventually Steven spoke. “Talk to me, Connie.” He scooted closer and wrapped her up in his arms.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She hugged him back, pressing her head to his chest to hear his heart. “I don’t even know how to think about it. My dad is…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Pinked,” he finished, knowing his word would be kinder than hers. He stroked her hair, trying his best to soothe her. “I know.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She shuddered against him. “He’s gonna be like Lars and Lion now. Like us. Immortal. Or ageless, at least.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And mom…” She closed her eyes and thought of her parents. “She’s still human. She could die, just, anytime. Any day. Any random accident.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She didn’t even realize how tight she was holding Steven until she felt him struggling to move her arms just enough to kiss the top of her head. “It’s okay, Connie. It’s a thought. Just a thought. She’s as safe as she was yesterday.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know!” She couldn’t help it, even after she’d notice. She kept hugging tighter until her body trembled from the effort. If she didn’t squeeze him, she would squeeze something else, and she would break things. She was too overwhelmed to control herself. So she squeezed him, and he held firm for her. “She is. She’s just as human as she was yesterday. And the day before that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And if you hadn’t called me, she wouldn’t have your dad. And neither would you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know.” And knowing did nothing to fill the pit in her chest, a pit that had threatened to swallow her up the moment she saw her father’s horrified look at his own skin under the moonlight.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She had done that to him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Then what’s wrong?” The conversation had gotten away from Steven, and he tried to bring it back on course. “Strawberry, I know it’s been a hard day, but it’s okay. Your dad is going to be fine. It’ll take some getting used to, but Lars is happy. Your dad will be too.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And if he’s not?” She rolled away from him, away from the embrace. Steven didn’t try to follow or respond. Maybe he didn’t know what to say. But she did. “Whatever struggles he goes through, whatever pain he feels, anything he loses and any</span>
  <em>
    <span>one</span>
  </em>
  <span> he loses, it all happens because I wanted this for him. I made the choice for him.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He put a hand on her shoulder, but on reflex a tiny piece of her armor appeared to push his hand away. He took the hint and pulled back. “Don’t you think he would’ve wanted to live if he had the option? If we could’ve asked?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Who knows?” Connie grit her teeth, curling up her legs to her chest. “I just know I didn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>care,</span>
  </em>
  <span> Steven. I thought about what he would want and I decided it </span>
  <em>
    <span>didn’t matter. </span>
  </em>
  <span>I wanted my dad back more than I cared about respecting what he would want.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m the one who cried on him,” Steven insisted, trying a new angle. “I revived him. It’s not all on you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You were only there because I called you! And you did it because I asked! Maybe you would’ve done it on your own, maybe he would’ve wanted it, but I made you do it and I chose for him.” She drove her nails into her palms, desperate to hurt a little, to feel some consequence for what she’d done.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Connie…” He reached out again, putting his hand over hers. She let her limbs relax and let out a breath that had been trapped in her chest. “I know… so, maybe your reasons weren’t the best. But look at what we did. He’s alive. Isn’t having problems and having to solve them better than being too dead to deal with anything?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Maybe.” She kept trying to relax, letting him curl around her again, weaving their fingers together. “I just… it’s on me. Whatever happens, I have to take responsibility. I have to try to fix this.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t think you can, Connie. It’s… I mean, even if we figured out how to, I don’t know, get the magic out of your dad, I don’t know if he’d…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Survive. Yeah. It’s probably holding him together at this point.” She took a shaky breath. “Yep. I know. I know! It’s done and there’s no going back. But that’s not what I mean. I can’t fix him.” Connie steeled herself. “But I can fix mom. I can fix everyone else.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He went still against her. “Connie, are you saying what I think you’re saying?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I was talking to dad, right before the accident happened. About when we would start our mission. I told him we were taking time to ourselves, that we didn’t know how long we would take, and I tried to say, I don’t know, we deserved it or something! But, Steven, it’s been two years since I finished college, two years since you started your sabbatical. How many people have died in two years? How many people were in the same place as my dad, but they didn’t have magic tears to save them?” She rolled in his arms, looking firmly at him. “My dad died tonight, Steven. My mom still could die tonight. Or your dad, or Sadie, or…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I get it.” He closed his eyes in thought, and she searched his face to try and understand what he was thinking. “It’s not going to be easy, Connie. It might not even be possible. We could end up working for years just looking for information. And even if we find it, we’re definitely going to be leading that effort for years, maybe more. We’re going to be very, very busy.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Then we’ll be busy.” She leaned forward the few inches to kiss him. “It’s been good to relax and enjoy life with you. But I’ve been thinking about it all night. I can’t stop thinking about all the good we’re not doing. I still want to change the world with you, Steven. We didn’t set a date or an alarm or anything to get us moving, and I’m afraid if we don’t do this, if we don’t start right now when we have something to really push us, we’ll sit on our hands until it’s too late, and someone really is gone. There’s a lot of people we love who aren’t going to be around forever. Not unless we do something about it.” She looked into his eyes. “And besides. We’ve got time. We’ll help humanity and gems and work it all out, and someday when we finish we can go back to this. To just us.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He rested his forehead against hers, and she felt his sigh against her lips. “Yeah. You’re right.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She closed her eyes again, just focusing on the closeness, and prepared herself for what she was about to say. “Steven… this was always my mission, not yours. You gave everything to help the gems. I can do the same for humans. If you still want your rest, you can—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He shut her up with a long, deep kiss and he held her tight after, his voice rumbling against her. “We are a </span>
  <em>
    <span>team, </span>
  </em>
  <span>Connie. Your goals are my goals. You were right beside me helping the gems, every step of the way, so don’t pretend I’ve earned the right to a never-ending vacation and you haven’t. And this isn’t just for humans or hybrids. If we can learn to make gems humanely it’ll have huge impacts on the whole universe. You can be in charge, it can be your mission, but I am going to be right there with you from day one to day infinity.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She couldn’t help but let out a tired laugh at how stupid she’d been to think he’d say anything else. “Stars, I love you, Steven.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Love you too.” He rubbed his nose against hers. “We’ll visit your parents in the morning. Your mom and dad will probably need us. But when they’re ready, we’ll gather the gems and our notes and get to work.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Connie felt a rush of excitement in her blood, cold and hot at the same time. “Then we should rest. The hybridization project is going to take a lot out of us.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We should.” They turned out the lights and shifted to lay down completely. Exhaustion finally caught up with them, and they were asleep in each other’s arms in moments.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In their dreams they were together, and no nightmare was strong enough to take them both.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>It's finally time for them to get to work.</p>
<p>Next chapter will be Monday. Or Wednesday? I'm not sure. I'm only releasing one next week, but I can't decide between Monday-Friday-Wednesday and Monday-Friday-Monday for the two-week schedule. If you have any preference, let me know in a comment.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Recollections</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Connie asks gemkind for help and recalls her first face-to-face meeting with the Diamonds.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Connie expected it to be at least a week before her parents were able to get by, but it ended up being only a couple of days before they insisted that they'd be fine for the time being. Steven managed a few hours of time to meet up with gems they wanted to talk to and arrange meetings, but he kindly left the bulk of the questioning open for her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie honestly appreciated it. As much as she wanted this to happen and happen soon, she absolutely wanted to be involved and do it together. This was her dream. Her chance to shape the world. She didn't want to miss it even for something as important as taking care of her family.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re sure you’re okay, dad?” Connie stepped back from the door and shifted her duffel bag. “Completely sure?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“For the love of god, Connie, </span>
  <em>
    <span>yes.</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Doug put his hands on his daughter’s shoulders. “You’ve been an absolute angel, sweetheart, and we’ve loved having you home, but </span>
  <em>
    <span>go live your own life.</span>
  </em>
  <span>” He pulled her in for a fifth goodbye hug. “We have to deal with this on our own eventually. You’ve prepared us as best you can, and we live ten miles away from you and the gems. We’ll manage, Connie. I promise.” Connie hovered another few moments on the welcome mat before her father gently added, “Steven’s been in the car for half an hour.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, stars, has he really?” Connie looked at her phone and groaned. “Okay, okay. Text me or call me if you need </span>
  <em>
    <span>anything</span>
  </em>
  <span>. If my phone’s out of service, call Pearl. She’ll have a way to reach me. Love you.” Connie finally opened the door and stepped outside to hop into the rumbling Dondai’s passenger seat. “Sorry.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I figured you’d be a while.” Steven put his Game Guy away and gave her a peck on the cheek. “I came prepared.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She buckled in very carefully. “And the meeting with the gems that we’re already late for?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is half an hour later than I told you,” he finished with a confident grin. “We have just enough time.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She pouted. “And if I’d come out on time?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Our instruments are in the trunk for a little jam session.” He giggled. “When I said I prepared I meant it, Connie!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She couldn’t help but smile with him. “Alright, I’ll be honest. That’s pretty impressive.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He started to drive, taking it very slow and careful for Connie’s nerves. Even so, even knowing that the two of them were practically indestructible, she kept her eyes wide open and had to stop herself from saying something half a dozen times before they made it home to the beach house.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You okay?” Steven asked as they parked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not really!” Connie yelped, unbuckling herself in a panic and lunging out of the car to pant on the beach.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven hurried to stand with her, a hand on her back rubbing a slow circle. “Just breathe.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry. Didn’t expect it to be that hard.” She sniffled and wiped her eyes. “I thought I could deal with it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s okay. We’ll find other ways to get around for a while. Lion and warp pads are usually enough. And Dad’ll be happy to have the Dondai back.” He wrapped her up tight as she composed herself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When she was finally ready, she sighed. “I’m okay. Thank you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He let her go. “So, ready to get started?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, all my hair stuff and our makeup are inside, so I probably look like a mess.” She tugged a hand through her tangled hair. “Yep. Not great.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We can agree to disagree on that one.” He grinned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Flatterer.” But she blushed as she walked up to the house. “Let’s get to it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie expected to see at most six gems in the house when she walked in. She thought Steven would start by asking for their friends to help. She did not expect the entire bottom floor to be packed with gems shoulder to shoulder. They could barely get in the door. “Steven, who did you invite?!” She squealed over the chatter as they pushed through the crowd.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I just put out a call and asked for anyone who thought they could help! Amethyst helped get the message out!” He held close, hands on her shoulders, and they struggled towards the stairs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thought they could help with what?” She grunted, stumbling out of the throng as they reached the stairs, which were thankfully mostly empty. Pearl was watching the crowd with an expression somewhere between worried and cross.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I just said we’d need information! I thought being more picky might weed people out!” Steven followed behind. “I said it was for you. I guess they just like you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pearl gave him a flat look as they met her on the stairs. “Honestly, Steven. You couldn’t have been even a little more specific? If they make a mess, you’re cleaning it up.” She sighed. “Welcome home, Connie, such as it is. Are your parents okay? Doug adjusting well?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’re doing as well as they can, Pearl, but maybe we should wait to talk until </span>
  <em>
    <span>after</span>
  </em>
  <span> we address the herd of elephants in the room.” Connie cleared her throat. “E-excuse me? Everybody?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Immediately all eyes were on her, and she went completely stiff. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Okay. You can do this. Thin the crowd first. </span>
  </em>
  <span>“Uh, hey, everyone! Thanks for coming!” She chuckled weakly. “So, uh, let’s start by figuring out who needs to be here, alright? I don’t wanna waste your time any more than we have to.” She bit her tongue. “Ow. Uh. Okay, so, me and Steven—I mean, Steven and I, we are trying to find out anything we can about the origin of gems. Specifically, the process involved in making them—that is, um, making you? So, uh, anyone who might have information about how that all, y’know, started…” She trailed off for a moment. “I guess please stay? Oh, or if you know someone you think might know! That too!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a murmur through the crowd, and Steven stepped in. “Obviously if you don’t know anything, you can go ahead and leave. And thanks for coming!” He smiled brightly. “Sorry to drag you out here. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gems started to pour out through the front door and past them towards the galaxy warp. Connie, Pearl, and Steven hugged the wall and watched to see who would stay.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the end it was just Peridot, Centi, and a Pyrope who were left behind. Connie sighed and walked down the stairs. “Hey, Peridot, Centi. And you’re a pyrope, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The pyrope was a regal gem, one of the old aristocracy. Her form was close to a tuxedo with lavish decoration, all in shades of red and pink, with her gem positioned at her neck like a brooch. “I am, madam.” She bowed elegantly. “Pyrope Facet-7D Cut-1. Dee, to my friends.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, just Connie is fine.” She smiled. “So, what information can you give me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well. Popular belief is that the Diamonds created the gem empire themselves, that they formed from nothing,” Dee answered. “Some cosmic alignment created their flawless gems. And everything else is their creation, or a creation of their creations.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But that’s asinine!” Peridot burst in, drawing a scowl from Dee that she summarily ignored. “The Diamonds have flaws and purpose just like any other gem. It’s only logical that they were created in the same way. And the first injector couldn’t have come from nowhere.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dee crossed her arms. “The peridot has a point. Those of us with more knowledge and prestige were aware that the vox populi were being fed a lie. The Diamonds may or may not have started it, but they certainly didn’t try to stop it at all. I’m sure it suited their purposes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven sighed and rubbed his neck. “That definitely sounds like something they’d have enjoyed. But anyone could’ve told us that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Centi waited for a lull before timidly speaking up. “I know something. I overheard it on a routine shuttling mission.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie focused in on her. “What do you know?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was moving a pair of agates, a fire agate and a moss agate, to a new colony. They were trying to one-up one another with who had more privileged information, and one of them, as a trump card, shared that Homeworld was not the original planet of the gems. Era 1 began with the movement of the Diamonds to the new Homeworld as a base of operations for the empire, but they came from somewhere else, and that other place is where gems really began.” Centi’s gem eye flashed to Steven and back to Connie. “I don’t know if it was true, but the agate who didn’t say it was incensed at such information being spoken so openly. It may have just been part of the politics, but it feels like if it was she’d have made a bigger deal out of it instead of just trying to keep it quiet. I think it was true.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then Homeworld isn’t really a homeworld? Just a home base?” Steven asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And if that’s the case, maybe we could find answers if we could find where they really came from.” Connie frowned. “But who would know where the original gem planet was?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dee chuckled haughtily. “Isn’t it obvious? If the Diamonds moved there, you simply need to ask </span>
  <em>
    <span>them</span>
  </em>
  <span> where they came from. Unless you can find another gem who’s been around all the way since the beginning of Era 1.” She grinned at Steven. “Shouldn’t you be able to speak to them, my Steven?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just Steven.” He rubbed his temples. “Alright. Thank you, everyone. If we have more questions, we’ll try to find you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“By your leave.” Dee bowed before showing herself out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bye, Steven. Good to see you again!” Centi smiled shyly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You too, Centi.” He gave her a weak smile back. She left, and the house was mostly empty again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was afraid this is where you’d end up,” Pearl mused. “The Diamonds are quite a bit older than most gems today. We’re ageless, but whether through shattering or being rejuvenated, the gems who can remember that far back are rare indeed. We’re talking about at least hundreds of thousands of years ago. The Diamonds would be the only group guaranteed to have existed that long ago.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie groaned. “Yeah, I thought this might happen.” She put a hand on Steven’s back. “Hey, you don’t have to go. Your, uh, sabbatical can keep going.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, it’s okay.” His head dropped and he sank down onto the couch next to Peridot. “I need to be able to meet them without them thinking I’m back to Diamond business. This is our mission. I go where you lead. Besides, it’s not like seeing the Diamonds is a walk in the park for you, either.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Peridot kicked her feet against the couch. “What do </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span> have against the Diamonds, Maheswaran?” She frowned. “You’re not even a gem! You were never under their heels.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie sighed and looked away. “Well… my only solo meeting with the Diamonds didn’t exactly go fantastically.”</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>Connie had lived with her turquoise for nearly a year before word got back. She knew it was inevitable, but she was hoping she’d be older. Maybe a millennium or two. Enough for time to dull her feelings towards the Diamonds.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But when they heard, they simply </span>
  <em>
    <span>had</span>
  </em>
  <span> to see her. Not only because she was Steven’s paramour (though certainly that had to be part of it) but because she was something new and exciting, a human fusing with a gem! It was unheard of, even among the Diamonds, who had lived so long and seen so much. Steven had only ever been himself, but Connie had transformed by her own volition. They had to see, and Steven would never hear the end of it until they did. He tried his best to keep them away, but eventually, when summer arrived and she had graduated from high school, she told him it was better to let them have their meeting.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She took the warp to Homeworld alone, because she knew Steven would have a terrible time if he was forced to watch whatever was going to go down. She was escorted to Blue and Yellow together, though White was nowhere to be found. That was for the best, too. White would be the hardest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The two former monarchs sat to meet her, Yellow cross-legged while Blue knelt elegantly. “Connie, how good to finally meet you!” Blue welcomed, her breathy voice filling the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie decided not to note that they had, in fact, met multiple times before. “And you too, Yellow, Blue.” She smiled at each of them in turn.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yellow bent lower, making her feel like a specimen under a microscope. “We heard of your new form some time ago, but for some reason Steven was so unwilling to let us contact you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ha, yeah… he’s so protective!” Connie grinned, hoping she was small enough that it wouldn’t look as fake as it felt. “I was finishing up my primary schooling. Humans don’t come out knowing everything like gems do, so we have to learn the hard way.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How intriguing,” Blue remarked. She held out a hand palm-up on the ground. “Connie, dear, would you allow me to pick you up? I’d like to look at you more closely.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, sure!” Connie bit her lip and stepped forward. Blue pulled Connie close to her searching eyes, and Yellow’s face pushed in as well.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You look more like a gem than even Steven does.” Blue turned her hand to look around at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Though that matrix tells me your gem could’ve used a better injection site,” Yellow added. “If only you’d asked for our help, we could’ve found something more suitable.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It doesn’t make me any weaker.” Connie frowned. “I still can do everything a turquoise can.” She summoned her armor, then a panel to sit on, floating out of Blue’s grasp. Even with their faces still close, being out of the literal palm of Blue’s hand was immensely calming for her. Connie even managed a smile. “And I still have all the sword skills I had as a human. I’m just stronger and faster now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes… and you were quite the little terror before.” Blue chuckled. “Talking back to Diamonds. I’d never seen an organic with the gall. Oh, you would’ve been a lovely member of my court.” She sighed. “Turquoises were never the favorites, but they had their places and they served well.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“In </span>
  <em>
    <span>your</span>
  </em>
  <span> court? Hah!” Yellow scoffed. “A warrior like her? Undoubtedly she would’ve come from my court, Blue. Turquoises were between the two of us, you’ll recall. And she would’ve made an excellent Yellow soldier.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie listened to them, her patience thinning as they talked about who would’ve owned her in tones that told her they’d very much like to own her now. She couldn’t let it go. “Neither of you own me!” She shouted. “I’m not a gem. I’m a human </span>
  <em>
    <span>with</span>
  </em>
  <span> a gem. I don’t have a place in either court, and I’d appreciate if you’d talk </span>
  <em>
    <span>to</span>
  </em>
  <span> me and not </span>
  <em>
    <span>around</span>
  </em>
  <span> me!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue and Yellow startled, looking down at her before leaning back. “Well. I suppose that’s rude of us. Steven wouldn’t approve.” Blue at least looked abashed. “Forgive us, Connie.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yellow looked off, miffed but unwilling to say anything about it. She clearly knew she’d made a mistake, and Connie sighed. “It’s alright. I’m sure it’s hard to break habits older than my whole species.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The conversation continued cordially, but it never came around to friendly again. But they let her go soon enough. Which meant meeting the last Diamond.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>White was stargazing when she arrived, and Connie hadn’t the faintest idea of what to say. She stared up at White Diamond, and she felt cold and empty.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why, hello, darling.” White Diamond finally took notice and looked far, far down at her. “It’s good to finally meet you, Connie.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“…Yeah.” Connie couldn’t even muster the energy to keep up appearances. She just kept staring at White.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Would you allow me a closer look at you, darling?” White smiled. “I’m sure you understand that you’re quite small from my perspective.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No thank you,” Connie muttered. Her eyes fell. This was a mistake. She wasn’t ready for this. She would </span>
  <em>
    <span>never</span>
  </em>
  <span> be ready for this.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well.” White paused. “I’ve heard you’ve found lovely, clever uses for your gem. Would you mind showing me? I’m so curious how human ingenuity can change how a gem functions.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I don't want to show you anything," Connie said quietly, staring at her feet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"But whyever not?" White Diamond knelt, getting closer to Connie's level. "It's not a command. I'd just like to see what a human and a gem can be together. That’s all I asked you here for. Is that so bad?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's not the request I don't want to follow. I just... It's you." Connie forced herself to meet the gaze of the titanic monarch. "I just don't like you. I think I might hate you."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>White Diamond was taken aback. For a moment her brow furrowed, anger showing through, and Connie prepared to defend herself. But her face smoothed back out. "And why is that?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Because I was here. The others don't remember. They didn't see it. Steven does, but he's so perfect and pure that he could forgive anything. But... I was there. I remember."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She felt it. Cold, clammy skin. Whimpering, failing breath. The dead weight of her friend, her love--because even then she knew she loved him--dying in her arms as she struggled to get him closer to the battle raging just inches away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You tried to kill the person I love most because he was in your way. I'm not Steven. I'll never forgive you for that."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>White Diamond's mouth formed a razor-thin line. "’Never’ is a very long time, human."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hybrid," Connie corrected. "And it is. So you can imagine how strong I feel to be so certain." Connie hesitated. She didn't want to be a threat. "I... I'm not going to attack you. Or fight you. And if we need to work together for some reason, I'll do it. But we're never going to be friends. And I'm never going to be nice. That's all."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>White stood back up, sighing and putting her normal smile back into place. "Then I suppose there was no point to this meeting. You're free to go."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I know. But not because you say so." Connie turned without any further epilogue and marched stiffly out of the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>By the time she was back to the galaxy warp, her panic attack was already nearly over.</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>Peridot winced as Connie finished her recollection. “That doesn’t sound like an exemplary first impression.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. Didn’t leave any of them in the best of spirits, and I haven’t had to see them one-on-one since. So going to them for a personal mission…” Connie groaned, flopping down on the couch next to Steven. “Not exactly my greatest wish.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, what are your other options?” Pearl asked. “Do you know anything else you could investigate?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We could try to find really old gems, I guess.” Connie ran her hands through her hair, absently sorting out tangles as she thought. “But I don’t know who we’d ask or how to find them. With the colonies all separate, they don’t have to answer or census or anything. Free travel means they’ll have moved around, so even if we knew where one was, that doesn’t mean that’s where they are now. So we could try and maybe we could get lucky, or we could just accept that at the end of the day, we already have someone to ask.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven leaned against her, his head on her shoulder. “It’s the best option we’ve got.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I know.” She sighed. “There’s no reason to delay. We’ll have to ask the Diamonds.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sorry this is late! I've been meaning to edit this chapter for two days, but I've been in a bit of a funk and struggled to do anything. Next chapter still goes up Monday.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Diplomatic Endeavors</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Connie and Steven ask the Diamonds for help, but get more than they bargained for.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Connie twirled and fell forward onto her knees, landing on a panel and immediately zipping it backward. She barely escaped as a pair of swords came down where her head had been a moment before. As soon as they passed she sprang forward, using a little boost to leap ahead with a cry. Her opponent grunted as the rough tackle hit and they both sprawled onto the tile of the arena. Connie landed on top and pressed her sword to her foe’s throat before they could escape.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Pearl lay very still for a moment before relaxing with a soft smile. “Well done, Connie. I yield.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Connie jumped up and helped her master to her feet. “Thank you, ma’am.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Pearl dusted herself off. “You’ve learned to be so agile with those. It’s difficult to keep up with you when you can move like that. Hard to believe they’re supposed to be shields.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I use them as shields too!” Connie sheathed her sword on her back and grinned. “But mobility is a better defense than blocking. An overextended opponent is half-defeated.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Pearl laughed. “You don’t have to teach </span>
  <em>
    <span>me</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Connie. Or did you forget who taught you that maxim?” She inspected her swords for chips before storing them away in her gem. “Though you didn’t block at all today. If this was a more formal training session I would accuse you of being overaggressive.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Connie flushed. Pearl’s critiques always sent her back to her childhood and the post-training breakdowns of all her mistakes. “Sorry, ma’am. You’re right. I’m not approaching our spar with a clear mind. I’m really anxious.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I understand,” Pearl said with a sigh. “The Diamonds are never easy to deal with, threats or not.” She led Connie to a bench at the edge of the arena. “I’m sorry you need their help.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s going to be rough. It’s only been like a year since they finally stopped calling Steven to come back every other week.” Connie held her bottle of water and swirled it around as she stared at it. “I just know as soon as he looks involved with any big gem stuff they’re gonna be back on him.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That certainly sounds like them.” Pearl leaned her jaw on one hand and mused. “And I’m sure you offered to go alone, and got a speech about family and love back?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Connie choked on a laugh in the middle of taking a drink, spitting water onto the arena floor. “Pearl!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not hearing a no.” Her teacher laughed. “I know my Steven even better than I know my Connie. I can imagine it now.” Pearl started a projection of Steven and Connie from her gem, the two images pantomiming through her vision as she spoke. “You working up the courage to take it all on your shoulders, pointing out how often he did the same, and of course neither of you ever </span>
  <em>
    <span>let </span>
  </em>
  <span>the other work alone, so I doubt he’d even let you finish talking once he figured you out.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Connie wiped her mouth and left a grin behind. “Yeah, you’ve got us down, I guess. He said we were in it together. And, well, he’s probably right this time. The Diamonds will talk to me, but they don’t care about me or my problems, not really. And I’m not their biggest fans either. But they’ll do cartwheels for Steven, so it’s better for the mission if he goes along.” She propped her chin on her hand. “I just hope he doesn’t end up dragged into something he doesn’t want because of it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He’s been good about holding himself back.” Pearl’s mouth worked through a few tight expressions before settling into a solid frown. “We always put so much on him, and when we stopped he picked it right back up. I do hope he doesn’t start again.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Connie stood up and stretched her arms high. “I’ll keep his head straight.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’ve always taken such good care of him. You’re wonderful partners.” Pearl smiled up at her student. “Need to get going?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah. I need to clean up and look nice before we meet the former space royalty.” She bent down to give Pearl a hug. “Thanks for helping me work out some stress.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You know I’m always here if you need me. Good luck with the Diamonds” Pearl patted her back, and her smile turned wry as they pulled apart. “Try not to be </span>
  <span>too </span>
  <span>hard on them.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Connie smirked. “No promises. Sometimes they deserve it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, if they <em>earn</em> it, that’s another story.” Pearl joined her in laughter, and Connie let herself enjoy the moment as long as she could.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The halls of Homeworld were surprisingly empty. The click of Connie’s dress shoes on tile echoed off the walls as they approached the Diamonds’ personal quarters. They’d been told not to come to the old throne room (now more of a meeting space than anything else) but to drop in on them directly. In theory, this was supposed to be a personal meeting. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Connie didn’t believe the Diamonds could pull off a meeting like that, especially not once they’d heard what she wanted. So she wore a pale blue suit and tie, sharp and well-fitted. It made her feel stronger to be dressed properly, even if the Diamonds wouldn’t know a t-shirt from a wedding dress.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Steven walked with her, matching her in pink as a show of solidarity. “You ready?” He murmured. Even that small sound came back as a whisper from the bare walls.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll be fine. I’ll explain, and then they’ll ignore me and tell you what I want to hear.” She nodded to herself. “It’ll be easy for me. I’m just worried about you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know how to handle the Diamonds. I won’t let them bully me back into the palace.” He craned up a little to kiss her temple.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They approached a set of doors the size of a cliff face, made with two access points for entry: one massive panel halfway up, and a tiny one at floor level for more reasonably-sized gems. Connie fiddled with her tie nervously as Steven pressed his hand to the smaller panel. The doors slid back into the walls with a quiet rustle, revealing a massive foyer with three exits, one each in blue, yellow, and white, and a glass ceiling showing the stars above. Connie and Steven felt like bugs on the floor as they walked along furniture scaled to Diamond size.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The blue door opened and Blue Diamond walked out to greet them. “Steven!” She rushed over and knelt, shaking the floor in her haste. She scooped Steven off shaky legs up into her hands and cuddled him to her cheek. “It’s been so long!” She raised her voice, calling to the other rooms. “Yellow! Steven is here!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Steven squirmed in her hands. “Alright, Blue, it’s good to see you too.” It certainly didn’t sound that way to Connie. She caught a desperate look thrown her way.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yellow’s door opened and she joined them. “Steven!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t forget Connie’s here too!” He jumped out of Blue’s hands to land next to his partner. “She’s the real reason we’re here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hi,” Connie said with an awkward wave. “Uh, Blue, Yellow. It’s been a while!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Neither of their faces quite reached “frown” but there was a flattening of expressions as they looked down at her. “Connie.” Yellow put a hand on her chin. “Yes, Steven said it was you who had questions for us.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, yeah. Do you think we could get started? Where is White Diamond?” Connie looked back at the unopened white chamber.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Blue glanced at Yellow. “White is… occupied,” she said slowly. “She won’t be joining us.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Connie felt herself relax and sighed. “Well, alright. I’ll have to talk to her later, then.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yellow masked a look of discomfort by drawing herself up. “So! You want to learn more about gems, correct?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Connie nodded. “Yes, exactly!” She held out a hand to Steven and made a panel for them to stand on, then floated the two of them up closer to eye level for the Diamonds. It was hard to talk as equals with the enormous gems literally looking down on them. “Specifically, we need to know where gems came from. We’ve heard a rumor that Homeworld wasn’t the original home of gems. Is that true?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yellow frowned. “That’s privileged information!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yellow, we’re not in charge of anything anymore,” Blue reminded her gently. “We don’t have to hide the truth.” Her eyes fixed on Steven. “It’s true, Steven. We came from another galaxy to this one, where there were resources for gems to flourish. This planet was rich, and we extracted all we could as part of the first major expansion of the empire.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Between the metals in the rings and the life in the surface, we made as much from Homeworld as any ten colonies.” Yellow sighed wistfully. “It was a marvel of efficiency.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s great!” Connie coated herself in false cheer, trying not to imagine Homeworld as a once-living planet stripped to a desiccated skeleton. “Then where did you come from before?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I… Hmm.” Blue furrowed her brow. “It’s been so long. I don’t know if I recall. Yellow?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yellow Diamond pinched the bridge of her nose. “What does it matter? It must’ve been abandoned for a reason. What could you possibly want with the first gem planet?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Steven cleared his throat. “Well, we wanna try and figure out where gems came from! ‘Cause the way gems are made, it’s kinda…” he winced. “A little too murdery?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Connie rolled her eyes. “My hope is that the place gems were originally made will have records that we can use to understand the process, and maybe someday alter it to be compatible with life.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“To make more hybrids like you,” Yellow continued, eyes narrowed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, yes,” Connie admitted. “But also more gems! I don’t know what they would do, but if gems could be a force for good rather than destruction, why not make more?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yellow looked up past the skylight towards the stars. “Hm. Perhaps. But… I don’t know…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Connie’s heart sunk. “You won’t help?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I think she’s saying she </span>
  <em>
    <span>can’t </span>
  </em>
  <span>help.” Steven put an arm around his partner’s waist. “Right, Yellow?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yellow groaned. She sat down in an enormous command seat and drummed her fingers against the console. “It’s been millions of years, Steven, with no reason to recall it. I haven’t the dimmest idea where we were before, not even a galaxy to look in.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But you have records, right?” Connie pressed. “You could look it up!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We’ve changed our ways of keeping information at least a half-dozen times since then, Steven.” Blue raised a hand to her mouth. “I wouldn’t even know where to begin to look. And with the empire gone, we can’t order a search for the oldest records. We could only ask and hope the old colonies care to look, if the information is even still available. It may have been destroyed or lost.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The two hybrids groaned together. “Well, is there anyone we could ask who might remember?” Steven scrunched up his nose, trying not to show his frustration and completely failing. “Any older gems? Or White? She was the first diamond, right? She could know more.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well… that’s possible…” Blue took a similar seat to Yellow’s and looked away, but Connie could still see a guilty look even in profile. She even felt guilty herself just for looking.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ah, Blue? Could you try to hold it in?” Steven asked with a strained smile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh! Terribly sorry, Steven.” The blue tinge of guilt radiating out receded back into the Diamond.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Blue, what’s got you guilty? Are you hiding something from me?” Steven tried to keep his smile on. “You know I hate surprises.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You love surprises,” Connie whispered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not from </span>
  <em>
    <span>them,</span>
  </em>
  <span>” he whispered back. “Can this talk be later?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Right. Sorry. Go ahead.” She floated them closer to Blue Diamond.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ah… Well, Steven, I would try to give you a list of the oldest gems we know of, but I’m afraid I’ve heard reports that many of the oldest have vanished. We think they may be starting some kind of coalition. Or… rebellion.” Blue’s cheeks tinged deeper blue. “We’ve been trying to look into it, but without the empire’s forces behind us, we’re very limited. We can only request, not demand.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Another rebellion? Really?” Steven groaned, running a hand over his face. “Alright, okay. That’s fine. What about White?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well…” Sheepish was not a common look for Yellow, but there was no other word for it. “There was a sector of space that used to contain a good number of her colonies. And it was, eh… dark.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“All space is dark.” Connie couldn’t keep the joke from tumbling out, and she heard Steven choke down a laugh despite himself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yellow Diamond didn’t notice at all. “That’s true, but I mean that no communication was coming out. Nothing but automated reports, and even those were incredibly out of date. White felt like she should try to be more active in your absence, Steven, and she went to investigate.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Steven really did smile brightly at the sign of them trying to get along without his help. “Alright, great! Good for her. When will she be back?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, we don’t know.” Blue tapped a few times at her chair’s console, displaying a transgalactic map. They could see a massive area of space marked with red dots for all the gem planets that had gone silent. “We lost contact with her ship, and we never got it back. Search parties were found and sent to her last location and her original destination, but they vanished too. We haven’t heard from her for nearly a cycle.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Steven did the time conversion in his head and his eyes went wide. “She’s been gone for </span>
  <em>
    <span>months </span>
  </em>
  <span>and you didn’t tell me?!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yellow glowered as she stood imperiously. “Well, Steven, you </span>
  <em>
    <span>insisted </span>
  </em>
  <span>that we keep you out of ‘any and all Diamond business no matter what.’ We would have told you, but </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span> set the rules, not us.” She crossed her arms.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Steven squeezed his eyes shut. “Agh! You guys, you’ve gotta know that there are exceptions—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Biscuit,” Connie said softly, placing a hand on his arm. “You’re doing it again.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Steven’s eyes shot open, and the flush of bright pink light that had appeared on his face receded. “Right. Sorry.” He sighed and took a breath. “Alright. You did what I asked, and that’s… fine. Thank you for telling me now.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What do you intend to do?” Blue asked. “Should we tell you when we find out more?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Steven looked to Connie. “What do we do?” He murmured.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Connie’s eyes shot wide. “Why should I—” She grimaced. “Right. I’m in charge.” She bit her knuckle and thought, but ultimately there was only one response. All the trails led in one direction. “Well… there’s nothing else we can do. We’ll have to investigate ourselves.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Steven!” Blue beamed, clasping her hands together. “Does this mean you’ll be rejoining our work?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ehhhhhhh…” Steven fiddled with the end of his tie, chuckling nervously. “Let’s put a pin in that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We can get you a ship. And a crew!” Yellow grinned as if he hadn’t spoken, all her former bluster gone in an instant as she began opening communication windows in earnest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Connie could feel Steven's shoulders tightening up at the idea of being in charge of any number of gems. She broke in. “How about just the ship? Something two people can pilot? Or even one fusion?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Steven relaxed immediately, giving her a grateful look that made her heart leap. “Yes. Exactly. Connie and I will go alone. Just a small exploration mission. We don’t have any solid reason to think it’s a rebel attack yet, right? They could just be caught in some weird space thingy!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s possible…” Yellow’s face fell as she fixated on him. “But you’re so very important, Steven. You </span>
  <em>
    <span>must </span>
  </em>
  <span>take care of yourself. We’ve already lost White. What will we do if we lose you too?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, that’s my responsibility, not yours. I’m following Connie.” He took her hand.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Connie smiled and squeezed. “We’ll find White for you. I promise.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Be careful,” Blue pleaded. She lifted a hand towards them and Connie slowly moved her panel away and down, groaning as if holding them up had tired her out to save Steven another smothering at Blue’s hands.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It was good to see you!” Steven said with a big fake smile. “Let us know when you find a ship! We’ll prepare for the trip until then!” Then, without waiting for a reply, he turned and started speed walking off with Connie at his heels. When the door closed behind them, they both sagged and let out  long sighs of relief.<br/></span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you think they’ll ever stop forgetting that they can still talk to me even when you’re around?” Connie murmured as they started walking again at a more relaxed pace. “They don’t say it, but sometimes I’m sure they still think of me as your pet.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Give it a few thousand years,” he joked back. She pouted at him, and he walked it back a little. “I don’t know. Probably. They’ll learn. Maybe I should make a point of it next time. You're right, they need to be better.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, hopefully </span>
  <em>
    <span>next time</span>
  </em>
  <span> is in a few decades anyway. They’re still insufferable”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah… thanks for having my back in there.” He smiled warmly and kissed her cheek. “You’re the best, Connie. I love you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Love you too.” She beamed back. “We’ve always got each other, Steven.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They found a warp and rode the light back home.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. To the Stars</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Connie and Steven head to the stars, and the first signs of danger become clear.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Connie was a blur of effort for days. Steven was working to ensure sure that the ship would be hospitable for organics, with the necessary bathroom and a place to generate food, but Connie had very little faith that the gems would get something so alien to them right. She prepared like they were going to be dropped in a random location for a week: rations, water, camping supplies, and outfits for any climate she could think of. She cobbled together a little extradimensional storage with Peridot and packed it efficiently to the brim. It fit neatly on her back, slim enough to fit beneath her sword.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It almost felt like cheating to her survivalist’s heart, but she could always go on a wilderness trek to make up for it later. For her mission, she would do whatever she could.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie woke up late one morning to an empty bed and the distinct impression that she’d just heard something outside. She rushed to get dressed just enough to be modest and ran out outside in loose pajama pants and one of Steven’s old star shirts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A ship was landing on the beach. She kept her sword at her side, but as she brought up a panel to block the sand blown up by the relatively small spacecraft, she couldn’t help but grin. She had a pretty good idea of what was coming.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The hatch opened up and Steven stepped onto the entry ramp as it lowered. He approached in jerky, robotic motions. “I—come—from—Homeworld,” he declared in a monotone. “Take—me—to—your—leader.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Our leaders suck!” She called back between giggles. “Take me with you instead!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So—brilliant!” He raised his hands and clacked his fingers like claws. “You—are—new—leader!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She raced up to give him a hug and a kiss. “How about a partnership?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sounds good.” He giggled. “Sorry to run off this morning, but I wanted your new ship to be a surprise.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t you mean </span>
  <em>
    <span>our</span>
  </em>
  <span> new ship?” She looked back through the door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I mean </span>
  <em>
    <span>your</span>
  </em>
  <span> new ship.” He poked her nose on the key word. “I’ve already got the leg ship. You deserve your own.” He grinned. “Come on. Captain gets to name it!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She looked up at the craft. It looked new. Sleek and shiny and fast, built like a teardrop, with the aft tapering to a point. Small, only a little wider and longer than Greg’s old van, but it looked powerful.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And she wanted it </span>
  <em>
    <span>bad.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have a spaceship,” she whispered. She laughed with her hands over her mouth and yelled it. “I have a spaceship!” She ran up inside and looked around. It was bigger on the inside, of course, but still about as small as their upper floor of the beach house, with the addition of a tiny kitchenette hastily slapped into a corner of the bridge. “All this is mine!” She squealed with glee and danced in a circle, claiming her domain.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven watched from the entrance, framed by sunlight while he watched the celebration. “You gonna be done soon?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes!” She raced over to him. “Can you pack? I’m already packed, but I’ve gotta look through some books, okay?” She pushed past him with a laugh.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What books?” He grinned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fantasy books! I need ship names!” She panel-leapt up from the beach to the galaxy warp balcony and raced inside. Steven chuckled and followed her in.</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why did nobody tell me all the ship names were stupid when I was a kid?” She grumbled, flipping through Destiny’s End with a notepad. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Seal of Love?</span>
  </em>
  <span> Why name a battle-airship that? Cannons do not fire love!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven placed a stack of identical shirts into a duffel bag. “Maybe because it’s from a famous romantic poem, and is another sign of Lisa and Archimicarus’s flowering feelings for each other at the end of their journey?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Since when do you know poetry?” Connie scowled and threw the book at him. “It’s a bust. I’ll just have to do it myself.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright. Well, think fast. Our parents will be here soon to see us off.” He kissed her head and zipped up the bag before heading downstairs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie flopped over on the bed and closed her eyes. It was so surreal. Two weeks ago nothing was happening. And now everything was happening all at once. Back to adventure, back to space, to doing something big and important. Her and Steven, up against the odds again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She didn’t know what to feel. Thrilled to start working towards her goal? Sad that her good, simple life was going away and might not come back for a long, long time? She waffled back and forth between the two, anxiety layered on excitement until she couldn’t tell which was making her heart race.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She decided on both, and named her ship accordingly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You have everything you need?” Priyanka fretted over Connie, looking down at the storage unit while Pearl looked over its contents. “Sword? Clothes? Food and water? Medical supplies?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t see anything missing.” Pearl raised a hand to her mouth. “But perhaps some backup weapons would be useful. I could head to the armory. Maybe pack a few swords, or even a bow for long-range engagements. There’s no reason not to be safe.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie stood between them, arms crossed while she let them panic. “Mom, Pearl. I’m fine. I’ve thought of everything! With the storage space I’ve got basically half a grocery store on my back. And Steven and I are unstoppable together! If anything big happens, Stevonnie’s stronger than any twenty gems. We’ll be okay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course you will. But you’re absolutely certain you want to go alone?” Pearl tried to stop panicking, but she couldn’t stop wringing her hands and her smile was much too wide.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven walked down from the ship and wrapped an arm around Connie. “You guys are busy. Little Homeschool has grown so much the name doesn’t even fit anymore.” He chuckled. “We don’t even know if there’s a threat! We’re probably just towing home a bunch of bored gems stranded in nowhere space. We’ve got all the info on where the gems dropped contact and we’ll be super-duper careful when we get anywhere near there.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Garnet put a hand to her head for a few moments. “The future is murky… but I don’t think bringing other gems turns out well. They’ll be capable alone, Pearl.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amethyst pouted with her arms crossed. “Well… if anything happens, we’re gonna be right behind you to kick your butt for leavin’ us!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’ll be alright.” Greg was a little lost staring at the ship. “They’ve got each other.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Priyanka sighed. “Just… message Pearl every night, honey. Don’t make us come after you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Us?</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Connie blinked. “You would—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“To save you? In a heartbeat.” Doug smiled sadly. “After all, I’m magic now, apparently. I can handle a space adventure if I have to.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her mother offered a strained smile. “But that won’t be necessary, will it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It won’t.” Connie bent down to hug her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The hugs and assurances didn’t end until they were aboard and the doors closed behind them. Steven and Connie let out twin sighs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, captain.” He grinned. “You ready to fly?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t train with Lars and Peri for nothing!” She walked quickly to the pilot seat and Steven took a spot at her side.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait!” He called, stopping her short. “Don’t we need to name it first?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She. Always she for a ship, Steven.” Connie placed her hands on the control panels, and all around the ship holoscreens blinked to life, showing their family waving from the beach house in front and the beach and ocean around them. Connie typed in a name in gem glyph, and it affixed itself to the bottom of the main display beneath a set of ship readouts. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Revolution?” Steven translated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie couldn’t suppress a smirk as she traced command lines on the panels, pulling up the ramp and starting the sublight engines. “If we're going to give up our easy lives for this, I’ll settle for nothing less.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The ship lifted off and away, and she watched the blue sky dim and blacken into a plain of stars and galaxies. Behind them the beach became a coastline became a continent became a blue-green planet, and soon even that was just another dot in space. She glanced away for a moment and lost it among the rest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie stood up and looked out the windows. “We always use warp pads these days. And every time I’ve been on a ship before this, there was always so much pressure. I’ve never gotten to just… take it in. Y’know?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The stars were still, even at speeds that would take them out of the solar system in hours. She stared out at them. “There’s still so much to explore,” she murmured.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you okay?” Steven asked from her side. She felt his hand on her cheek, and only when it was wet did she realize she was crying.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh. Um, yeah. I’m fine.” She wiped her eyes. “Just livin’ the dream. You know, I always wanted to be an astronaut. Didn’t think it’d come so easy.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You think what you’ve done has been </span>
  <em>
    <span>easy?</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Steven beamed at her. “You earned this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She laughed and kept going through the tears. “Alright. Okay. So, what kind of engine are we looking at? Gravity drive? Warp tunneler?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Warp’s faster. And safer for squishy organic life.” He pinched her arm and she smacked his hand away. “But it’s got both. We can’t be in warp when we get to our destination or we might miss something in real space.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good thinking.” She started plugging in coordinates. She hummed. “Would it be faster to use both at once?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, Peridot says ‘never, ever, ever do that no matter what’.” He laughed nervously. “Apparently trying to change the laws of physics in warp space causes some kind of feedback loop and, uh, all the pieces of the ship fly apart at a billion times the speed of light.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie clicked her tongue. “Warp it is.” She navigated to the coordinates of the last known transmission of White and started the warp drive. A whine built up somewhere deeper in the ship and released in a wave of acceleration that pushed her back into her seat. The stars vanished, replaced by a blinding tunnel of blue and pink going by at ridiculous speeds. She covered her eyes. “Oof. Ow. Screens off!” The holoscreens winked out, and other than a readout in front of her displaying their location, she couldn’t detect the motion at all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven tapped at his own console. “Three days, huh? That’s not too bad.” He smiled. “Three days of complete solitude.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just you and me with lightyears between us and anybody else.” She leaned back and turned her chair to face him. “How will we survive?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven leaned back. “Hmm… well, I’ve got the entire Dogcopter anthology on my laptop.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She beamed. “Even the really bad ones?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He winked. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Especially</span>
  </em>
  <span> the really bad ones.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Last one to the bed brings snacks!” She was already halfway to their tiny bunkroom by the time she finished saying it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven let out a sigh of defeat and started padding towards the kitchenette. “Aye aye, captain.”</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>It turned out that watching movies and reading books for two days with nothing else to do left you basically dead inside. Connie and Steven had given up on entertainment. They were just snoozing in bed together, barely aware that ship time was five in the afternoon.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do we even do with ourselves?” She grumbled, laying entirely on top of Steven.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mdumo.” He turned his head to the side so he didn’t have to speak through hair. “I dunno. You’re the captain. I’m not in charge.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s clearly just a play title.” She wiggled back and forth to make him uncomfortable.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I take it very seriously,” he grunted. “Cut that out!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m bored, and this is less boring than nothing.” She grinned. “If you don’t like it, you can decide what we do.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We can talk if you just get off!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Figure out something to do!” She laughed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not in charge!” He fought a little harder, wrestling against her and making her put some effort into fighting back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then I put you in charge!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No!” Gem strength suddenly came into play as he pushed her off to the other side of the bed, panting hard with a hand on his chest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her eyes were wide. “Okay, okay! You’re not in charge. Sorry.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven started to relax. “Alright. Thanks.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She gave him a second to relax. “So… do you wanna talk about whatever the heck that was?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He flushed and rolled over, hiding his face in a pillow. “Not really.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For a few moments they sat there, Connie trying to figure out what had just exploded in Steven while he slowly wound himself down. “Well, do you think we </span>
  <em>
    <span>should?</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He groaned. “You’re smart. You can figure it out.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, none of that,” she said with a frown. “Biscuit, talk to me. You’re upset.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He propped himself up, but still didn’t face her. “…I need you to be the one in charge, Connie. I can’t.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because…” The lights came on in her head. “The Diamonds.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If I let them get even a </span>
  <em>
    <span>hint</span>
  </em>
  <span> that I might be trying to run things, they’re gonna be right back where they were!” He sighed. “I get it. They’re old, really, really old, and they have habits and they’re trying to change. But they want me to be… not mom, maybe, but a Diamond. And I’ve been working really hard not to be, ever since—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know,” she cut him off gently. “I remember. You don’t have to tell me.”</span>
</p><p><span>“Thanks.” He finally faced her and smiled sheepishly. “I”m sorry. I know it’s dumb, but I want—no, I </span><em><span>need</span></em><span> this to be your</span> <span>mission, with me just helping. I need the Diamonds to know that I’m not doing this for me, and I’m not doing this as a Diamond at all. Besides, you’re the one who was super brave and risked everything for a gem.” He looked at her bare shoulder and the turquoise sitting there. “You deserve to get the credit when we figure out how to give others that chance.”</span></p><p>
  <span>“Well, we’re going to share the credit no matter what, Steven.” She steadied herself. “But if it’s that important to you, then… okay. I’ll call the shots for this. I won’t make you decide anything important. I’m leading.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She could see him relax as the weight came off of him, but that very same weight settled onto her chest. She’d looked up to Steven for so long, seen him as a leader even when they started dating. If trouble ever came, she expected him to be the one who made the hard choices. Everyone did. Then their lives had gone quiet and still, and they’d been equal. Nothing more or less. She hadn’t expected to ever be completely in charge.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She’d have to figure it out as she went.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright, then. First command as official captain.” She pointed imperiously. “Figure out something to do, ensign!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mmm… okay!” He grinned and reached for her arm, dragging her back over and pinning her with one hand. “I’ve got something.” He dug his fingers into her side.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She squealed as she smacked at him. “No fair! No tickling! Mutiny!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They found ways to pass the time.</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>Being in space was exciting for a while, even if they couldn’t look out the windows directly. Connie learned that she could have the ship simulate the stars they would see at their relative location in real space, and she spent hours watching them fly by. For half a day they were in the dark space between galaxies, but even then the sky was dotted with the impossibly distant clusters of stars that made up the universe. It was so vast, and she couldn’t help wondering how many of them contained gems.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She wondered how many of them might one day contain humans, too.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But the mood grew tense as the third day wound closer to its end. They settled out of warp and got back to business. Again the holoscreens came on as they secured themselves in their seats and started the gravity drive. They began trundling through space at a relative crawl, only a few dozen times the speed of light. There was no real reason to watch, but they couldn’t stop paying attention. The thought that they might pass some marker of their quarry was too compelling to shake.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sensors?” Connie drummed her fingers nervously on the control panel.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven huffed. “Connie, I’ll tell you if there’s anything. It’s just the two of us.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right. Sorry.” She rubbed her face. “My bad.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s okay.” He smiled her way. “You’re new to captaining.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And you’re new to science-officering.” They laughed together, but even that couldn’t quite shake off the nerves. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re only a few, uh…” Steven paused to count zeroes. “Only a few trillion kilometers away from their last known location.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So like half a day.” She bit her lip. “And the sensors—wait, no, sorry. You’d say. Right.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She stared at the instrument panel, then the stars, then glanced at Steven, then back to the instruments. Her eyes couldn’t stay still. She had to stay aware. Over and over she bit her tongue, keeping from bothering Steven again. She had to trust him. She’d be a good leader.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There’s… something.” She jolted as he spoke. She’d spent minutes on edge in silence since the last word he’d said. “A… a wave?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What kind of wave?” She stood up and stared at his screen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He pulled the sensor map out into a 3D projection. “I dunno, Connie. It’s huge. It’s like a wall, I can’t tell how far it goes. It’s some kind of energy. Maybe a distant supernova or something? It’s not setting off any alarms.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cold dread pooled in her stomach. “It can’t be a coincidence. We should raise whatever shields we have.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll do it.” All the excess power from the warp core was drained off into the shields, and an audible hum filled the ship. Steven swallowed hard enough for her to hear it. “It’s almost here, ‘berry.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She braced. There was no time to run. Her armor covered her body on instinct, and she grabbed his hand. On the monitor, the wave encroached closer and closer to the dot of their ship. Finally it passed over them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The shields did nothing. It didn’t hurt, but there was a moment where her body felt electrified and veins of white light covered them both. She felt Steven’s hand shake in hers as the veins contracted and vanished—but not without effect. Her armor shattered, vanishing into shards of light, and they both sunk down into their seats. Connie watched the matrix on her arms fade from bright teal into a dull seaweed green. Her legs felt shaky and weak, like her body suddenly weighed twice as much. Steven turned to her in panic.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know this,” he babbled. “This is what Spinel did! This happened to me!” He lifted his shirt to look at his gem. They watched the glow flicker and fade, and with alarm she lifted her sleeve to look at her turquoise. It was dull and dark, just like the matrix all over her body.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She lifted a hand for a panel. For a moment it appeared, faded and glitching, before winking out of existence. “That wave, it was something like the rejuvenator,” she whispered. “Maybe exactly the same. And it was huge. Faster than light, spreading over tons of space.” She bit her knuckle and made herself wince. Durability was a gem power she was used to having, and now she was lacking. She’d have to be careful with herself. “All the colonies. All the ships. They must’ve gotten caught.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And White Diamond, too.” Steven looked stricken. “She came out here… what would it even do to her? What was her original setting even like?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie grimaced. “Considering what the gems got up to from the start, I doubt anything good.” She closed her eyes. “Thank the stars we didn’t bring any full gems. If that wave worked on them like Spinel’s rejuvenator did, we’d have a ship full of rogue gems.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do we do?” Steven looked desperately at her. “Can we keep going?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The weight of command was so, so much heavier in the face of danger. But Connie wouldn’t back down. She could do this. “Gems can’t help us. They can’t go anywhere near this, so there’s no reason to go back for help. We’re weakened, but we can keep going. So we have to. There’s so many gem planets out here… we’ve got to help them.” She met his eyes, and slowly she saw the determination she was forcing into her eyes mirrored in his. “This isn’t just about our mission anymore. Somehow, someone is resetting thousands or millions of gems. We need to know why. We’ve got to keep going.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven nodded silently and turned to put power back towards the engines. “You’re right. If we can’t help, they’re lost.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They faced the way the rejuvenator wave had come head-on, and their ship barreled toward the source.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hey, guys. I know I said I'd be doing three chapters every two weeks, but I've been in sort of a funk since this story started posting, and I've eaten through almost all of my buffer without writing much ahead at all. Until I can build it back up and be sure of releasing on schedule, I'm going to switch to weekly updates on Mondays to give myself a bit more room. I should probably have waited to release this one, but I said I'd release Friday and I don't want to change that without an announcement.</p><p>The final promo came out today. Odd to realize that this story is going to be releasing after the end of Steven Universe Future, but I don't intend to let that stop me from finishing it. I hope you'll continue reading with me, too.</p><p>See you Monday.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Close Encounter</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Connie and Steven head toward White Diamond's original destination and make contact.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Connie stared down at the sensor array with weary eyes. She checked twice before she relayed the news to Steven, trying not to sound as defeated as she felt. “Wave incoming.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He sucked in air through his teeth. “I’m ready.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Whatever similarities this thing had to the rejuvenator, it seemed weaker. Within half a day, it felt like strength was starting to return to them. Their gems began to glow instead of flicker, and their strength was almost back where it was before.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Which made it all the more painful when another wave hit ten hours later. And then ten hours after that. And ten after that. They couldn’t even dodge it in warp space, or they’d be blind and deaf to reality and might miss a sign of the lost gems. They just had to suffer through.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie didn’t even grit her teeth this time. The awful feeling surged through them, resetting their gems and making them both feel like their bodies were made of solid lead. They groaned together as the wave passed, leaving them at their worst.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ve gotta get that thing to stop,” Steven muttered. “It sucks so much.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yyyyyyep.” Connie slumped in her seat. “But we’re still too far to get any direction other than </span>
  <em>
    <span>thataway.</span>
  </em>
  <span> It could be days before we get close enough that the shape of the wave can give us a hint to an actual location.” She sighed. “Peridot could, maybe. I’m still a novice with all the specifics. She could probably detect some energy signature or curvature or whatever and have us halfway there by now. All I can do is point the ship and make it go.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And you’re doing a great job of it.” Somehow despite the exhaustion that had been forced upon him, he still managed to give her an honest smile. “We’ll figure it out eventually. We’ve just gotta keep at it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She forced herself to smile back. “Thanks, Biscuit.” She pushed herself out of her seat and stumbled towards their bunk. “Come on. Let’s nap off the worst of it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He followed her back and they tumbled into bed together. He snuggled up to her chest while she laid back, and they both tried to lean into the tiredness and sleep.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie couldn’t do it. Her mind was exhausted but sluggishly whirling all the same. Before, she thought perhaps it was an organized breakaway, a group of gems banding together and cutting all ties. That would be unusual, but not impossible. It wouldn’t necessarily mean they had ill will towards gems. White’s disappearance didn’t even have to be related.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But the wave had changed the game. Whatever was causing this had the capacity to reset gems on an interstellar scale. They’d panicked at first, terrified the wave might go out all the way to Earth or Homeworld, but Connie did the math. The wave would be out of the galaxy in hours, and White Diamond had gone missing over three months before. The waves had to get weaker over time, limiting their reach. Of course, that also meant it would probably get stronger as they moved towards the source, until even those gaps between the waves closed into total powerlessness.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was just no way that the wave wasn’t a threat. It was bad enough being in charge of a search and rescue mission, but now it was looking more and more likely that she was going to be leading them into an actual battle. Weakened and nearly powerless, with only her trained to fight with human strength and stamina. And even she was terribly out of practice fighting on those terms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She’d barely kept herself together when she’d called Pearl to update her about the waves, when she’d explained that they were heading forward despite the danger. Pearl’s panic had been so hard to keep from infecting her, and both of them were nearly in tears when Pearl finally agreed that there was no one else who could do it, and nothing to do but continue.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It went unspoken that no one would be able to come rescue them if something went wrong.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Out here, galaxies away, they were well and truly alone. She clutched her sleeping Steven tight to her chest. “I’ll keep us safe,” she murmured.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She heard more than felt him kiss her without moving his head. “I know you will.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie let exhaustion overcome her.</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mmmf. Hey. Comffie.” Steven spoke through a mouthful of cup ramen, gulping it noisily before he continued. “We’re getting close to the planet White was originally planning to check out. It’s not right ahead, but it’s less than a lightyear off our course.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She swirled her spoon through the remnants of her own lunch before setting it aside. “Hmm… that’s not a bad lead. If everyone on White’s ship got rejuvenated, they might have just kept the original plans they had laid in. They had to have gone </span>
  <em>
    <span>somewhere</span>
  </em>
  <span>, or we would’ve detected their ship on the scanner.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, change course?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, yeah. Let’s do it! Better than flying blindly into the wave forever. And if there’s an atmosphere I would really, really like to get out of this ship for a while.” She stretched. “Tired and cramped is a terrible mix.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You got it, captain.” Steven plotted their course, and the holoscreens showed the stars banking across the sky as the ship turned in a wide arc. “Won’t be too long before we get to orbit. I hope it’s a cool planet.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ve seen dozens of cool gem planets, Steven.” Connie giggled. “What are you hoping for?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He shrugged and started idly spinning in his chair. “I dunno. White had to have picked it for a reason. Maybe it’s got some neat structures?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If there was a colony there, it’ll probably be a dead planet.” She leaned her chin on her hand. “Most gem worlds are.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I know.” He sighed. “Still.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Moment by moment, one of the bright red dots on the sky started to grow in prominence as they entered its star system, passing through the orbits of a pair of planets before reaching their mark. They were far out from the red sun, but the giant still lit up the ship with reddish daylight as they entered the orbit of the planet they’d come to see.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They stood to look at it. “It’s still all together,” Steven remarked. And it was. The surface was mostly green with a few patches of brown, though a grayer, more sickly green than they would have seen on earth. The surface was dotted with blue streams and lakes, but no oceans. But there were no obvious signs of gem activity: no visible orbital stations, no resource-recovery scars cracking the crust apart, and most of all, tons of life that was clearly not even a little bit exterminated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why would the gems want to leave this planet the way it is? Are you sure this is the right place?” Connie bit her lip nervously. “I guess we can land either way if it’s safe, but I don’t know…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He pulled up the information Yellow and Blue had sent them about White’s mission. “No, this is it. If there’s no gems here, White made a mistake.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then take us closer, I guess. Try to get in range for a scan of any gem signals.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Revolution sank down into the gravity well, falling towards the strangely living world. Tension built between them as the first wisps of atmosphere started to flare hot against their hull, and Connie reached for Steven’s hand just to have something to squeeze tight. From how he latched on, he must’ve felt the same.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then they both jumped as an alarm bleeped at them, alerting them to an incoming message. “Do I answer?” Steven asked nervously. “Or let it go to voicemail?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She stared at it, freezing up for a moment before she remembered that it was her call, and she had to make it. “Whoever they are, they know we’re here. Better to be known than an unknown threat.” Her hand trembled with anxiety as she swiped the interface to accept.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A bored peridot filled the screen, her head resting on the folded appendages of one limb extender. “Unknown craft, identify yourselves or—” The peridot blinked, jolting upright. “You’re—” Then she stood up, a wordless scream growing as she ran out of the picture. Behind her, they could see a few other peridots turning to look with similar shock as they saw what was on the screen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think we’re identified?” Connie smiled awkwardly. “Connie Maheswaran, human-turquoise hybrid, and Steven Universe, who I figure you probably know?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven covered his face with a groan. “Alright. Great. Hi, everyone, just coming to look into some stuff, don’t worry about me. You won’t even see me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The view on the other end raised as a gem lifted it into view. Her face was stern, hair in a tight bob around it. Her gem wasn’t visible with her face so close to the screen, but Steven recognized the gem anyway. “A moissanite?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her voice was deep and commanding, her tone clipped. “Steven Universe. Welcome. Please remain where you are. We will send you an escort craft.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie stepped in. “This is actually my ship. Steven isn’t in charge.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The moissanite stared at her. “The message stands.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We don’t need an escort,” Connie insisted, a chill running down her spine. “We don’t even need to see you. Our mission has nothing to do with gem presence on this planet.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a tiny twitch, almost too small to catch, on the gem’s face. “The message </span>
  <em>
    <span>stands,</span>
  </em>
  <span>” she repeated. The call winked out, leaving them staring down at the planet again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thaaaaaaaat’s not good,” Steven said, mirroring her thoughts. “Why insist on an escort? And why no notice about the wave thingy? And anyway, how the heck are they not going crazy down there being reset every few hours?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie sat down and activated the seat’s restraint field, holding herself in place. “Good questions. Hey, Steven? Buckle up. What weapons does this ship have?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Weapons?” He squeaked. “Um, there’s a light cannon on the back, but I think that’s it? Why do you need weapons?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because we don’t need an escort, and they know it, and we know it. They just want us to ignore the incoming ship.” On cue, the scanner blipped with signals from first one craft, then another two close behind. “Make that ships.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, stars.” Steven turned on the restraints for his own chair. “They’re attacking? Why?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I don’t know why, Steven!” She snapped. “Sorry! Shouldn’t yell! But I really, really need you to get on that cannon because we’re definitely probably about to be in a dogfight!” She pushed her hands into the interfaces, linking up to the ship directly and turning it around as her eyes started to glow. “We can’t use shields in atmosphere. We’ve gotta go, now!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Stevonnie’s a better pilot!” Steven insisted even as he opened up the weapons and stared at the targeting screen, dreading the possibility that he would need to fire. “We could fuse?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There is super definitely not enough time for that!” The ship lurched forward as the engine started up, lifting out of the atmosphere. On the scanner the ships, already at top speed, closed in. “Please get the shields ready and power them the second we’re clear—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Revolution rocked and bucked as something hit them, and they both cried out. The restraints were the only thing that kept them in their seats. “Never mind, to hell with it! Shields on now!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven followed her command instantly. There was a shrieking noise from outside as the shield repelled the air they were going through, burning power and shaking the entire craft. In the thick lower atmosphere it would’ve torn the ship apart, but even in the wispy, barely-there thermosphere it was nerve-wracking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But the worst part wasn’t the noise or the shaking. The worst part was that it slowed them down. It took ten seconds for Connie to notice, but ten seconds was enough for all three craft to get in firing range. Connie knew how to pilot a ship, but piloting for travel and piloting for combat were not at all the same. She inexpertly banked and spun, desperately trying to dodge fire, but she didn’t have the skill. Shot after shot found their shields.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven was no better off on the cannon, his shots careful but hesitant. Connie could see him close his eyes every time he lined up a shot, not wanting to see it happen if he did hit. Of course, that combined with Connie’s own haphazard flight meant that he couldn’t land even a single shot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The shriek outside flickered, making her head pound. Steven’s panicking voice broke through. “Shields are failing! There’s no power for the drives! The next shot we take is coming straight through!” He turned to her, leaping out of his seat. “Connie, we’ve got to go!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the corner was an escape pod, tiny and ready to launch. Connie glanced back at it. “We’ll be stranded. No rescue, no way home.” She barely dodged a shot that would’ve torn the ship apart, her eyes fixed on the stars in front of them. “I can fix everything, I just need to get us away!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re already beaten!” The sublight engines shuddered and the entire ship shook. Steven was tossed, barely keeping himself from slamming into her by bracing on her seat. “Connie, please!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aaagh!” She cried out, releasing her restraints and sending the ship into a sudden dive to give them a couple of seconds to act. “Alright! Go!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They stumbled across the bridge, Connie snatching her storage unit before they crammed themselves into the tiny pod and hit the big, obvious eject button. Their knees were pressed into their chests and the pod launched away from the Revolution, cutting it so close that even in the sparse atmosphere they could hear the faint thunder of their ship breaking apart as a final shot ruptured the warp core.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Our ship,” Connie murmured mournfully.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven pressed his forehead to hers. “We’re alive. That’s what matters.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She took it in. They held each other as the pod fell towards the planet. Automatic procedures guided them towards land, and they flew down towards the sickly green canopy, impulse boosters firing to slow their descent. Even so, they landed hard, their heads knocking together as they thunked into the loamy soil.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ugh. Barely.” She smacked the door release, and it pulled away slowly, grinding a little from the damage the pod had taken on impact. “Get out. I need room.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven made room, stepping out into the alien environs nervously. “What for?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“These things have communications, but…” She tapped menus and checked options, then slumped back, rubbing her aching head. “Only a few thousand lightyears. A distress beacon at best. Nothing we could use to call home. Nothing useful.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven swallowed. “They couldn’t come anyway. They’d hit the wave.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know that!” She snapped, then forced herself to relax. He didn’t deserve her anger. He hadn’t gotten them into this. “I know. But they would know. They wouldn’t worry we were dead.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right.” He put a hand to his head. “Stars, Connie. What are we gonna do?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For a moment, Connie felt the same panic she was sure he felt flooding through her. But she was in charge. She had to be in charge. And that meant she had to figure out what to do. She centered herself, fought back the panic, and cobbled together a simple plan. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She climbed out and knelt on the ground, pulling her storage unit free. “First, we take inventory.” She opened up the storage unit and pulled her sword free, slinging it across her back. She checked inside, made sure everything was in place, and then closed it up and handed it to Steven. “We’ve got the tools for survival in there. Enough food that we won’t need to take chances with anything here for at least a week. Camping supplies. Weapons.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He smiled wanly. “I don’t know what I would have done without you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then it’s a good thing I’m here.” She gave him a grim smile back. “This is the same thing as we did as Stevonnie on that moon when we were kids. We’ll survive. But at least this time we’re not working with nothing but a sword.” Connie stood up and brushed herself as clean as she was going to get. “Which is good. Because this time there’s no help coming, either.” She closed her eyes and thought. “But there are gems here. They have ships. They might have a warp. Either could get us home. And gems have been here for eons if the records White had were right. So even if the planet is somehow full of life, there should be structures. We can try to figure out what’s going on here.” She turned in place, looked for a good path, and started walking. “Come on. We should get moving.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where are you going?” Steven stayed put. “These pods can travel. We’d be safer in it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She turned back to him. “And if they can track it? Or find the trail it carves through this…” Connie looked around. The trees were dense and tall, throwing everything beneath their canopy into red-tinted shadow, but the air was crisp and dry, not the wet humidity of a jungle. “Forest? I’m gonna say forest. They shot us down, they probably saw the escape pod launch. We need to get clear before they come looking.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven looked warily back at the pod. “Well, if they wanna track it, maybe we should get rid of it. If I can toss it away, they won’t know where to start looking.” He knelt next to it, wrapping his arms near the base, and lifted. For a moment it shifted, but his gem flickered out and he gasped as the weight settled back into his arms. “Oh, gosh. No gem powers either.” She could see the fear in his eyes as he looked back at her. “Connie, we’re…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Weak? Vulnerable? Human, I guess.” She nodded solemnly. “Yeah. We are. And that’s why we need to leave. We can’t fight like this. We need to run.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He walked close to her. “I’ll stay close to you.” He took her hand and held it tight, and she could feel him shake. “I trust you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The weight was heavy on her weakened shoulders, but there was nothing to do but keep bearing it. “I’ll keep us safe, Steven. Let’s go.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie led them carefully but quickly down a dark path, and she vanished into the trees with Steven close behind.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. The Wild</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Trapped in alien wilderness with no way home, Steven and Connie survive.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>When lost in unfamiliar territory, the first thing to do is to get one’s bearings. Whether on Earth or not, Connie still knew this was true. So the first day they were alone, once it seemed they’d evaded capture, she counted out exactly what they had. Canned food would last ten days, fifteen if they rationed hard. Water would last twice that. If they were still on the planet at that point, they’d have to scavenge. That meant they had two weeks at most to get familiar enough with the planet to survive.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie had been to dozens of planets with Steven. She recognized a few things about this one. Trees were everywhere, an endless forest of huge gray-green monoliths that stretched like sequoias towards the sky, and instead of grasses hardy little weeds grew in the spaces between.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There aren't many rivers. Not a lot of cloud cover,” she mused as she thought about it after a day of travel. “There must be water underground. Plants have to be big enough to get at it, or they die.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And what does that mean for us?” Steven asked nervously. His eyes kept darting around the edge of the flickering firelight.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It means that if we need water, we’ll have to dig. If there’s enough to keep a forest alive without rain, there’ll be enough for us to get at it with a shovel.” She frowned. “It’ll be hard. But if we time it so it’s just before a wave when we’re strongest, we can probably dig a good ways down… hopefully enough to find water.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I believe you.” Steven wrapped his hands around his knees. “I just hope it doesn’t come to that. There’s gotta be a way home.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ll just have to keep searching for a gem structure. Hopefully we can find a warp, or a ship, or… something.” She sighed and started serving up their fire-warmed soup cans. “Eat up, Biscuit. We need the strength.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>By day five, they had found a few signs of life. Mostly bugs (”if we have to, Steven, then we have to”) but a half-dozen times they had seen strange, many-legged reptiles and amphibians burrowing into soft, loamy soil at their approach. It took hours of hunting to track one down before it fled, but Connie made the effort, sneaking up on one and carefully trapping the two-foot thing under the flat of her blade. It spit and hissed, some caustic venom burning a nearby tree, but a quick cut removed the head. Connie went about inspecting the thing, a scaly creature built like a rabbit with a half-dozen bonus digging legs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We can’t eat this one yet. I need to dissect it,” she explained as she held her sword by the blade, carefully cutting the lizard-creature open.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven looked sick. “You have to?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It sprayed acid or something, Steven!” She panted from the effort of holding up the sword so awkwardly, freshly weak from a reset wave. It was humiliating to struggle with something that was usually so easy. “If this is the only food source we can catch, I’ve gotta figure out what parts are safe to eat!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry. You’re right.” Steven stood behind her and gingerly put a hand on the hilt of the sword, helping her hold it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you.” She grimaced as she cut it down the belly. Survivalist or not, Connie still didn’t like killing, and definitely didn’t like seeing the aftermath. But as she cut the venom sac free and started cleaning the rest, she could at least take grim comfort that she’d stretched their food supply out another day.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The meat was stringy and a little bit burned when they cooked it that night, but at least it wasn’t another day of soup. She could see Steven struggling to get it down, though. He took vegetarianism more seriously than she did. This had to be killing him.<br/>
</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s too bad it didn’t have fur,” Steven muttered as he poked the meat around his bowl.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why would you want it to be cuter?” Connie smiled a little. “Seems like that’d just be sadder.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, but if it had fur, I could use my healing tears on it… I mean, if they worked just before the waves when we’re getting better. I think they might.” He grimaced. “It’d be better to kill one furry thing and get home through the pinked fur than to have to eat a bunch of animals while we search for gem stuff.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Steven.” Connie’s empty bowl slipped to the ground as she shot up. “Steven, that’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>genius!</span>
  </em>
  <span>” She ran her hand through her matted hair, looking around the campfire as if something might come springing from the shadowed trees. “There’s got to be some kind of fuzzy something on this planet! We just have to find one, and we’ll have a way home!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh. Oh!” He grinned. “That’s true! Just because we haven’t seen one yet doesn’t mean there’s nothing to find!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You just figured out what we’re doing while we travel.” She carefully took the bowl from his hands to preserve his dinner before tackling him to kiss him. He was grimy and gross from days of alien wilderness, but she ignored it all. So was she, after all. She cradled his face in her hands and beamed at him. “You brilliant man.”</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>Five more days passed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It turned out that, no, furry animals were not an essential quality of life-bearing planets. They moved slowly, more hunting than traveling, making sure not to spook anything. They found scores of burrowing lizards, enough to keep them fed, and brightly-colored amphibian things Connie was smart enough to know were almost certainly poisonous. But not a single creature with fur or hide.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A lizard scurried away from Steven’s defeated hands, its new pink scales not imbuing the creature with enough intelligence to see Steven as more than a threat. “Guess at least </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span> get some benefit, buddy. Have a good long life. Try not to get eaten too quick.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought maybe the scales would be similar enough.” Connie sank down onto her heels, leaning against one of the massive, omnipresent trees. “But no. Apparently it has to be fur or hair or something.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s so stupidly arbitrary.” Steven sat next to her. “Gosh, Connie. I really hoped that would work.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It was a good idea.” She hung her head. “At least one of us is having them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Connie…” He leaned against her. “Don’t say that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s true. I was in charge. I led us here. I decided to keep going into the wave knowing we’d be powerless. I turned on the shields while we were running and slowed us down.” Connie leaned back, knocking her head against the tree. “And now I made the call to kill half a week moving at half-speed because I was sooooo sure that we’d find some fuzzy pink portal to skip straight home. I shouldn’t have assumed. We’re probably close to the equator or something and it’s warm enough that fur isn’t necessary. Maybe there’s no axial tilt to this planet, so there’s no seasons and it’s just warm here all the time.” She started bouncing her head on the tree. “Maybe nothing evolved with fur at all, and if we went way north or south it’s all blubber and scales. Planet Dinosaur, hooray.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Connie!” Steven scooted to look at her. “There’s no point to this. It’s okay. It happened, and—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> okay, Steven!” She shouted. Creatures scurried all around them from the sudden sound. “I did this! I made all the decisions, I led us here, and now we might die on this stupid lizard planet with its dumb huge trees and no fur at all, and if we do it’ll be all my fault.” Her eyes shone and she brushed the tears away with an angry sweep of her hand. “It’s just like dad. My choice made him what he is, and my choices trapped us on this planet. Everything is on me, and I keep screwing it up!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the wake of her shout, everything settled into an uneasy silence around them. Even the wind had died down. She panted and buried her head in her hands. “I’m sorry.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know. I… I get it.” Steven blew a long breath out through pursed lips and stared out into the trees. “It’s not easy to lead. Anything bad that happens, it all feels like it’s on you. Even if you didn’t know, even if you </span>
  <em>
    <span>couldn’t</span>
  </em>
  <span> know, and you made the best decision you could… it really doesn’t matter. It hurts. Even if you should never have been in charge at all.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie flushed. Of course he would understand. “Steven, you did a great job. The gems didn’t even tell you everything you needed to know and you still did great. You should be proud.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I am.” He smiled. “But if that’s true, then you should too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Guilt rose in her throat. “Why would that be true?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because you’re making the hard decisions. We agreed every step of the way, and it didn’t turn out perfect, but you still did the best you could with what we knew. And somehow you’ve kept us both moving and alive for a week and a half, always towards a goal, even though our gems only work for maybe half an hour a day and even that’s hit or miss. You’re an amazing leader.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It choked her, blinded her. “The fur thing—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That was </span>
  <em>
    <span>my</span>
  </em>
  <span> idea, Connie. I gave you a bad idea and you had reason to think it was good.” Steven leaned in and rested his forehead against hers. “If it had worked, we’d be home. That was a good reason to try.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But she could feel it starting to break. “But five days—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We didn’t sit still! Besides, we have no idea how long it’ll take to find a way home. Five days might be nothing.” He pressed himself harder against her, and she could feel him tense thinking about it. “You’re working to keep us alive and get us home. You’re leading us, and I know you can lead us the right way. And that’s why—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was the worst possible moment for a wave to strike, and so, of course, it did. Their heads knocked together, and Connie fell cursing to the side as Steven moaned and dropped back away from her. The awful weight, the fresh powerlessness, it all drove the conversation out of their heads. The guilt rushed back to coil around her neck as she watched Steven moan and grip his gem, and it was twice as heavy as the weight of leadership could ever be.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When they finally recovered, they started moving again. Connie wanted to make up for some of their lost time.</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>The world was wrong.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It took a while for Connie to realize how wrong it was. Things appearing and disappearing like a flickering image on a screen should have been a sure sign, but it felt right at first. Even the tall alien trees strewn across the beaches of her home, sticking out of the water like thorns reaching to rake at the sky, felt entirely correct. It was only when she found Steven doing the same flicker that she realized what was happening.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Steven?” She asked. “Is this a dream?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Connie.” He reached towards her with an ephemeral hand. His mouth moved, but no more sound came out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s… you’re dreamwalking. But it’s weak. Like a bad phone call.” She took his hand, and it was solid even if the image flickered. If she closed her eyes, she could just feel him. She savored it for a moment before a flash of insight struck her. “Steven. If you can hear me, go home. Dreamwalk home. If you can reach our families on Earth, even just enough to say a single sentence, we could tell someone we’re okay. They’d know we’re okay!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He opened his mouth and tried to speak again, but as before, nothing came out. But he nodded with a determined look, and for a moment he seemed more solid as he closed his eyes and focused.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie felt an almighty pull on her arm as she was dragged out of her dream. There was no up or down, just </span>
  <em>
    <span>away.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Everything vanished, and there was a sensation of unfathomable speed. She couldn’t see Steven or anything else, but she could feel his hand, and she held it with all her strength.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The rushing stopped all at once. The whole world was flickering now, not just parts of it. Connie held as tight as she could, and she floated behind him like a balloon as he started to explore.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Between the gaps, she could see her own house. A dream version of herself and her father were inside, visibly happy as they talked to one another, though not a sound escaped. At the front door Priyanka knelt, pounding weakly to be let in, tears running down her face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie felt cold certainty that it was her mom’s dream, not her dad’s. She tried to call out, but even in her own ears she couldn’t hear it. Her influence here was nothing. She could only watch, dragged along to see Steven’s sojourn.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dr. Ma—wa—” Steven’s voice kept cutting out along with everything else, but she could hear enough.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her mother turned her head to see him, and she spun to stand up again. If she saw Connie, she made no sign that two of her daughter in the same place was odd in the slightest. “Steven? How are you—” Her mother was no easier to understand within the breaks in reality. She could feel his hand tighten as he focused harder, and for a few moments the flickering stopped.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven spoke as fast as he could without tripping over his words. “Dr. Mom. This is a dream, but you and me are real. I don’t know how long this will last, but me and Connie are okay. We’re on a gem planet. We got attacked and we’re stranded, but there’s ships and maybe warps. We’re going to find a way home, okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re… that’s right. You’re gone. You and Connie.” She blinked, and everything changed. The house was suddenly in disrepair. Doug sat inside, head in his hands, all alone. Connie felt something tear in her chest, and again she called out without a sound. “You’re so far,” her mother murmured. The ground cracked wide, a fissure between them, and Priyanka was suddenly on the other side of a vast ravine.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven grit his teeth and took a step, a single motion that he willed to let them across. Dream logic wasn’t easy, but it could be managed. He spoke again as the single step moved them back across to Connie’s mom. “But we’re safe. We’re surviving.” Again the world flickered, and he strained to hold it together. “Don’t… don’t come after us. It’s too dangerous. We’ll come back to you soon. I promise.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Priyanka put a hand to her head. “A dream. But you’re real? I don’t—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“When you wake up, go tell Pearl. She can tell you about this. Just give Pearl the message, and she can explain. You can tell each other and you’ll know it’s real.” He winced, his eyes screwing up from effort, but again the dream began to fail, and only snatches of his voice made it to Connie’s ears. “Pearl! Wake—go—Pearl—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At last the dream shattered. Whatever link Steven had created was broken and Connie was ripped away from him and her mother, tumbling through the dark as she screamed in silence, her mind trapped in the void without him. She reached and reached and cried out, but there was nothing to reach for, nothing to save her, nothing nothing nothing—</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>She gasped as she woke up covered in sweat. Her gem flickered and almost ached on her shoulder. Steven was already leaning up in the sleeping bag, panting and coughing as he tried to catch his breath. Their eyes met. Even in the dark, she could see how exhausted he looked. She’d never seen him so tired.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t do that again,” he muttered before letting out another pained cough. “That was brutal. I’ve </span>
  <em>
    <span>never </span>
  </em>
  <span>felt this bad, not even when Spinel was around. I think I pushed too hard, Connie.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You did great, Biscuit.” She rubbed his back. She felt some of the same deep, intense exhaustion as he did, and she’d only been a passenger. She couldn’t imagine how rough it had been for him. “They know.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He rested his face in his hands. “Kiki remembered the next morning. You usually remember. But she might not know. What if she’s not curious enough to check?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve told her about the dream thing before. She knows it’s a possibility. She’ll tell Pearl, and they’ll know we’re okay.” Connie pushed herself further up with a groan and wrapped him in a hug, rocking back and forth. “You did so well. I’m so proud. So proud of you. Thank you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He pressed his cheek to her chest and she ran her hand through his curly, messy hair. She tried her best to comfort him. Tried to focus on him. Tried not to think about the dream she’d seen, the hell her parents were living through at home from everything she’d done.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She let him lean on her for a while, but once he was half-dozing in her arms, she shook him gently. “We should go back to sleep. We need rest.” They lay down together in their sleeping bag, still curled together as they slept.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Though they slept side by side, in their dreams they were alone, and their nightmares found them easy prey.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks to loveluckylost for beta reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Knowledge Left Behind</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Finding a strange ancient structure in the alien wilderness, Connie and Steven learn new info about the planet they're stranded on and the gem presence there.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Steven was sick the day after their dreamwalk home. It wasn’t any specific illness that Connie could name. Just weak and coughing, barely able to move. But she took care of him, helped him eat and drink and use the bathroom (or at least the hole in the ground) while he regained his strength.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Panic gnawed at her heart, and each breath was a struggle. When he slept in the middle of the day she stole away to break down in tears far enough away that she wouldn’t wake him, but still in sight of their tent. She had to protect. To lead. To be in control. And that meant she had to control herself above all else. So she bit her knuckle with just enough force to keep it from bleeding, and she kept her eyes open for danger, and she let herself cry exactly as much as she needed. Then she went back to their tent and kept the watch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She wanted to let him rest. She wanted to rest herself. But the next morning she got them up, checked to make sure he could walk, and they started moving again. She couldn’t let them get caught. Even if Steven was exhausted and miserable and needed to stop every hour to catch his breath, she had to keep them moving.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was five more days before their efforts were finally rewarded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The first sign was a break in the trees, and Connie reached out and held out a hand to stop Steven from moving past her. “Hold on.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven frowned. “Yeah, I see it too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They didn’t need to be experts to realize that the clearing ahead wasn’t natural. It was too neat and too big, nearly two hundred feet across, and the sun overhead marked a nearly perfect circle in the canopy above. The ground was pocked with tiny craters, blast marks, some freshly made and others worn down by time. Not even the hardy weeds seemed to find purchase within the circle. In the center of the clearing wasn’t much, just a boxy little building. But it was a gem structure, and that was enough.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So… it’s probably got some kind of defenses?” Steven guessed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.” Connie bit her lip. “Alright. We’re going to investigate. We’ll wait another hour or so, try to let ourselves get as strong as we can, and then we’ll test it. That’ll give us time to watch for gem activity, too. We don’t want to get caught.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The hour passed slowly. They walked around the circle, always keeping to the trees, watching for footprints or signposts of any gem presence. But the only footprints they found were their own. Nothing moved in or around the little structure.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing so long as we stay away.” Connie heaved and pulled up a plant with a clump of dirt. She tested the weight. “So, what if we intrude?” She whirled it around to build momentum and tossed it into the circle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The response was near-instant. A small light cannon popped out of the top of the structure and swiveled, taking aim at the plant. It jittered as it calculated, and the moment the plant hit the ground it fired. The beam was weak, more concussion than destruction, but it kept firing every couple of seconds until the weed was blown apart. When the pieces were small enough, it finally stopped and retracted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We could probably take a couple of hits right now.” Connie drummed her fingers on a tree. “Can you make your shield?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven closed his eyes, taking stock of himself. “I think I can make it, but it won’t take much to break. Maybe a blast or two.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright.” She took a deep breath and made a panel, then swiveled it down to their feet. She could feel the strain on her gem like she’d been pushing at her limits for hours without pause. “Shield up. I’ll move, you block. Quickly.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven drew up his shield, wincing with the effort, and they climbed aboard. Connie jetted them forward, panting as they jerked along in stuttery jolts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The gun swiveled out again, and Connie tried to shift their path left and right to make themselves a tougher target. A shot hit the dirt to their left, and she smiled tightly. They made it halfway there before Steven was forced to raise his shield to block, the hard-light construct shattering from a single blow. Steven grunted and dropped to his hands and knees, minimizing his profile to be a harder target. Connie weaved harder, getting closer with each turn until they were in sight of their goal.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She wheezed and pushed, but as they drew close the panel flickered and went out. The two of them tumbled with matching cries, rolling towards the building. Steven was in front, and made it all the way to the door. Connie fell flat after a single roll, and she watched with wide eyes as the cannon fired. No time to block, no strength for armor. The bolt hit her right in the stomach.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She cried out as it hit, burning more shirt than skin but punching hard enough to bruise. She forced herself to roll onto her injured front away from the second shot, and by the third she had stumbled her way to collapse near the door with Steven, out of sight of the turret. She heard it whir and click above, then silence as it returned back to its housing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Connie!” Steven pulled her close and looked at the injury. “Are you okay? Can you breathe?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie took halting breaths, only able to get a word out between each gasp. “Just—knocked—air out.” She grimaced as she probed her belly. “Bruised, not—broken.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven licked his hand and pressed it to the fresh hole in her shirt, and she winced at the gentle touch. It sparkled and the pain lessened, but Steven’s miraculous healing wasn’t up to par. The blue-green bruise remained.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They waited a minute for Connie to catch her breath, both of them worrying at the prospect of internal damage. But nothing seemed to come in the short term. They had to keep going. Connie put a palm to the familiar panel on the door, and it opened with a chime. They walked in, the door shutting behind them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The walls were austere. Gem metals and shaped stone, for certain, but no decorations at all. Aside from a very old terminal, there was barely anything in the room at all. “Weird,” Steven mumbled as they looked around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Connie rasped.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So… this is a really old gem planet, right? Since way back, maybe even before Era 1. But, like, on Earth and all the other planets that were Era 1, everything was decorated. Even tiny stuff had murals or sculptures or something. This is so…” He trailed off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re right. It’s utilitarian.” Connie walked slowly towards the terminal, holding herself even to keep the bruises from aching too harshly. “Even Era 2 wasn’t so plain.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a hand-shaped panel, and Connie placed her hand on it. A black section of wall lit up into a screen, but nothing appeared. There was something like a sound, but deeper than that, a burst of meaning directly into her mind: </span>
  <em>
    <span>Denied.</span>
  </em>
  <span> She jerked her hand away, wincing as the sudden motion jolted her bruises.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did you hear that?” Steven looked around. “Or… something. Maybe mind talking?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think it was telepathic. But yeah, I heard it.” She rubbed her side.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lemme try.” Steven put his hand on the panel, and there was a flicker of pink from his gem. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Command-class 04 detected. Access auth-auth-auth-authorized. Adjusting linguistics. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Both of them winced as the mental message caught, half-meaning flickering in an unsettling way before it finally finished. The wall panel blinked to life.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Command-class zero four?” Connie wondered aloud.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Pink Diamond was the youngest of the diamonds. She must’ve been made fourth. But why would a gem computer call her that?” Steven’s brow furrowed. “Connie, see if you can use it now that it’s on. You know this stuff better than me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right.” She stepped up to the console and placed her hands on it. “It’s an old model.” She waited, then realized she’d actually have to manually move a cursor to access anything. “Wow. Scratch that, it’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>ancient. </span>
  </em>
  <span>This is like the Portals 94 of gemtech. Peridot would lose her mind having to work with this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven leaned over her shoulder. “What do you have access to?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh… everything, I think.” She flipped through the gem equivalent of files and folders. "Looks like Pink had the keys to the kingdom."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So can you figure out what the heck this place is? Where everybody is?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, the last access was…” She blinked as she double-checked her mental math. “Uh, about eight million years.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh boy.” Steven’s eyes went wide. “That’s long even for the Diamonds.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And long for this computer.” She sighed as she kept searching and kept finding roadblocks. “Whatever storage they were using, it wasn’t made to survive this long in stasis. A lot of these files are corrupt. Maybe if I do a scan for data integrity, only get the most complete information…” She tapped and typed at the gem glyph keyboard. “It’s a good thing I’ve used human computers. I’ve never seen a gem computer with a command-line interface like this, but it’s close enough to the ones I used in college on Earth that I think… there, that should do it.” Icons shuffled on the screen, and after a minute of scanning only a few things remained. “Lots of data on the Synthetic Life Project, whatever that is…” She opened a few files, gradually getting more and more upset at the scant details in even the most complete files, until finally she found one whole enough to make sense of.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She and Steven stared at the image on the screen, marked </span>
  <em>
    <span>Synthetic Life Resource Distributor</span>
  </em>
  <span> in gem glyph. “Connie… is that what I think it is?” He asked in hushed tones.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s a gem injector. Yeah.” Even this file was largely incomplete, but there was enough to make sense of it. “This is… Steven, this is a blueprint for a new form of life. This isn’t something the gems wrote themselves. This is about the gems. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Before</span>
  </em>
  <span> the gems.” She scrolled down past some familiar images: four diamonds, a class structure chart, even design specs for early dropships. Her heart thrilled with excitement as the pieces fell into place. “This isn’t a gem planet. All the life that was left behind, the similar structures but different cultural marks… this was made by some other species, and that species was trying to make gems!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Connie, do you know what this means?” Steven grinned. “They made gems here! And the planet isn’t dead!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They did experiments here, at least.” She couldn’t help but smile herself. “I think this was some kind of research outpost. Maybe they only did a few experiments so there wasn’t much impact… or maybe the experiments didn’t kill anything. The data isn’t complete enough to be sure, but…” She opened a new file, and they both fell silent. This one was simple. A planet, a location, and a plan. “This is it. This planet, wherever it is, this is where they planned to make the first full wave of gems. This is Origin.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They marked down how much life it had.” Steven frowned. “So they knew what the gems would do to it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But they started there. And if they have files like this, maybe files they knew might be needed far in the future, then if we go there, there’s a chance we’ll find everything we need.” She kept flicking through files. “There’s so much information here. There must be even more there.” Then her heart jolted as she caught sight of a familiar structure in one of the files. “Steven. Steven, Steven, Steven!” She laughed. “What is </span>
  <em>
    <span>that?</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His eyes went wide. “That’s a warp pad!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A prototype galaxy warp.” She scoured the file, reading between the missing information to understand all she could. “They tested it near here, to have it ready for the gems. And they got it working! Steven!” She squealed. “If we can get to this warp, we could link it to anywhere! We could go home!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They laughed and embraced. “You did it!” He cheered and squeezed her tight. “I knew you could. I knew it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She pulled away and opened up her storage, plugging her dead phone into an emergency battery and powering it on. “I’m going to take pictures. I’ve gotta get this all down. The warp pad location, all the information about Origin… if we can get all this, we can get home and know what to do when we get there. We can finally do more than just run for our lives.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She raised her phone camera to the screen, put it in focus, and then stopped short.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The image had changed. The moissanite from their earlier communication stared flatly back at them. She made a satisfied sound. “So you survived the crash. We were prepared to continue searching as long as it took, but I am glad to see you both well.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie’s temper flared, and she grit her teeth as she glared into the screen. “Then why did you shoot us down?” She demanded without thinking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Moissanite nodded thoughtfully. “True. I have misspoken. What I mean to say is, I am glad to see that your gems are undamaged. Yours at least, Steven. I did not expect another diamond to become available to us so quickly.” She drew herself up. “I’ll be direct. As the rejuvenator does not seem to affect you as we would like, we are willing to accept a peaceful exchange. Surrender yourselves and allow your gems to be harvested, and we will allow your human forms to depart.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven growled. “It doesn’t work like that! We’re not humans with gems stuck in us. We’re human </span>
  <em>
    <span>and</span>
  </em>
  <span> gem. You can’t just rip half of us away and expect either half to keep working!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She raised a hand to her cheek, seeming somehow bored with the exchange. “Hmm. That’s good to know. I’ll have to ensure you’re captured alive, then. We need your essence, after all.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why? What are you after?” Steven sighed. “Please, just… why do we have to fight? Why can’t we talk things out?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t think we have anything to talk about.” Moissanite’s lips twitched down as they had in their last encounter. “You’ve already made your stance perfectly clear, Steven. You wish us to be leaderless and directionless. You want us to choose our own paths, yes? To forge our own destinies? Well, then. This is mine. It is unfortunate that we require diamond essence to rebuild, but those like me will </span>
  <em>
    <span>never</span>
  </em>
  <span> accept idleness. We were made for a purpose, and we find our fulfillment in that. Did you not think of that? That some of us would not accept your wishes for us?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I…” Steven faltered. “You were forced into it. You didn’t know better. I thought telling you—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You were wrong,” she answered sharply. “And you never asked how many enjoyed the work for what it was. I have heard that you do not intend to lead again, nor let the Diamonds return to their stewardship. So it falls to we former commanders, the one-time eyes and hands of the Diamonds, to act as we were made to.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There’s got to be another way!” Steven insisted. “Listen, you’re not the only one struggling for purpose. I've met so many gems who had to work at it! I remember early on there was a lapis lazuli, and she felt the same as you, but after we told her the options she found a better path! Couldn’t you try?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Moissanite’s eyes narrowed, and her voice turned to a venomous hiss. “I </span>
  <em>
    <span>did</span>
  </em>
  <span> try. For my Diamonds, for you, I tried. I found no joy in abandoning my position and my purpose after eons of faithful service, Steven Universe. All I found were others like me, who yearned for purpose and were told to defy it by leaders who chose not to lead. And we chose our new path, just as you asked.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie hammered her fist onto the control panel, jarring both Steven and Moissanite. “What about the rejuvenated gems? All of the planets in your reach? None of them wanted their own path?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The wide-range rejuvenator is not being utilized at full power. It fades if not refreshed.” Moissanite actually showed a hint of remorse as she spoke. “Once we rebuild more loyal soldiers and can operate without those serving under rejuvenation within the galactic sector, they’ll be given the choice to leave as they were. We will, of course, need the Diamonds for essence, but all others will be freed. We will broadcast our message, gather those like us, and the rest of the gems can do as they will, while we—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Continue to strip living planets to rock and dirt,” Connie accused.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It is what we were made for,” Moissanite replied simply.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then you’re right.” Connie glared. “We don’t have anything to talk about.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven gave her a pained look. “Connie, they don’t—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It doesn’t matter. This conversation has served its purpose.” Moissanite closed her eyes, collecting herself and regaining her flat demeanor. “I will receive you shortly.” The face on the screen vanished, leaving the files from before.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And from outside, a series of crashes all around them heralded the arrival of some unknown number of gem transports. Connie and Steven stared at each other, hearts sinking with cold dread. They’d been caught.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks again to loveluckylost for beta reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Connie's Choice</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Connie and Steven fight for their lives. When things go awry, Connie is offered a way out.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“She tricked us,” Connie whispered. “She got us talking until they could track us down.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ve gotta stay calm,” Steven insisted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Steven, I’m hurt, we’re surrounded, and our gems barely have power!” She grimaced and touched her side. “How are we going to get out of this?!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Connie, breathe.” He put his hands on her shoulders. “Just breathe with me. It’s been a while since the last wave. We’re as strong as we can be. And I know that neither of us has a lot of strength, but together… maybe it’ll be enough.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie closed her eyes and put her hands on his. “Yeah. Okay. You’re right.” She centered herself and smiled weakly at him. “It’s like I told Pearl, right? Stevonnie’s stronger than any twenty gems. Maybe a little less right now. But still a lot.” She swallowed. “You fused when your gem was messed up, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It was rough, but yeah. And that was with dad. He didn’t even have a gem, so everything came from me. We’ve both got gems, even if they’re messed up. I just know Stevonnie will be strong enough. I believe in us.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a crash above that made them both wince, then a sparking sound and a thunk on the roof of their little hideout. Steven gripped her shoulders tight, and she felt his hands shaking. He was working so hard to keep himself under control for her. “They got the cannon. We’re out of time.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie took a trembling breath. “I love you so much, Steven.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The smile he returned to her was shaky, and his eyes were wet, but he did manage to smile despite everything. “I love you too.” They embraced and held each other tight. Their gems flickered, then erupted into bright glows that mingled and filled the room. Two became one.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Stevonnie pulled the sword free from its sheath, donned their armor, and set their shield on their arm. “Together,” they murmured.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The door opened with a chime.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Stevonnie lunged before it had even finished sliding open, dashing and slashing in a wide arc. Two citrines had only time for shocked expressions before the rending blade dispelled their forms and two gems fell to the ground. Stevonnie noticed with a fraction of their mind that the gems had something attached to them, something that had remained behind. The rest of them counted enemies and whirled to block a bolt of light that exploded, cracking their low-power shield. They tossed it at the artillery gem who had fired on them and summoned a fresh one.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Three transports. Six quartzes. One adamite. Two fusions. Fusions first.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Stevonnie leapt, flying high and landing on a summoned panel at the top of their arc. An explosive bolt and a thrown javelin from one of the quartzes both sailed over their heads. They concentrated, making the panel as thin as possible, so thin it was barely visible as they flew down towards the fusions. One of them looked like a ruby and a quartz together, all muscle with a head like a fireball. They flipped off of the panel as they approached, and the now razor-thin plane of light kept going right into the fusion. She looked almost baffled as it flew through her without stopping, bisecting her at the waist and sending the two gems in her chest tumbling to the ground.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Stevonnie laughed through the pain in their belly as they landed. “You wouldn’t believe how long we’ve been waiting to use that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The other fusion was a clear leader, a pair of agates formed into a tall, thin fusion with a shining energy sword. They prepared for the blow, but the blade split into six pieces mid-strike. They’d never seen a whip sword, and it very nearly caught them. Their bubble came up on reflex, barely catching the strike, and they pushed it out into a wave to knock the fusion off her feet. They caught her with a stab to the middle without breaking stride, already heading to the adamite by the time the fusion burst behind them.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Four down. Seven left. Ranged fighters next. We’ve got this. We can do it!</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Up close the adamite barely had any protection, and she clutched at her yellow-green skirts in fear as the sword came down. They couldn’t help a tinge of pity for the demolition gem forced into this combat mission. The rebellion must really be as low on loyal gems as Moissanite had claimed. But Stevonnie cut even so, making sure the gem hit the ground safely before moving on to face the six quartz soldiers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Two jaspers, two carnelians, an amethyst, and a rose quartz. The six quartzes, all burly brawlers and all armed, approached slowly. It almost seemed they were savoring the moment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well? Who’s first?” Stevonnie grinned. Their gems were starting to flicker and the bruise they’d inherited from Connie was aching terribly, but they stood strong. “Come on, no one wants to go up against the famous Stevonnie? No one wants the glory?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They nearly surrounded the fused hybrid, and Stevonnie danced back towards the building, making sure to keep it at her back to keep themself from being surrounded entirely. Their eyes darted back and forth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No takers? Alright, then. I choose… you!” They turned to a carnelian, and as they stepped forward a panel appeared beneath their feet, catapulting them back towards the amethyst. But she didn’t engage or make any attempt to capture them. Instead she leaped back, keeping her distance. Stevonnie nearly stumbled in confusion as they hit the ground again.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Why would she dodge? Why aren’t they attacking? What are they waiting for?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <em>The wave.</em>
  </b>
</p><p>
  <span>A rush of nausea hit them along with the realization. It must’ve been close to the wave interval for them to maintain the fusion this long. The quartzes weren’t just dodging—they were </span>
  <em>
    <span>waiting, </span>
  </em>
  <span>knowing that in minutes, or maybe seconds, their quarry would be powerless. “No, no no no!” Their gems flared bright through their ragged clothes and a bright pink glow surrounded Stevonnie, shot through with veins of shining blue. They flew like a thunderbolt, tossing up a plume of alien soil as they launched towards the carnelian they had feinted towards before. “You’re not running out the clock on me!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sword was barely necessary; at that speed, Stevonnie might have poofed the carnelian with a punch. But the gem brought up the haft of her mace and Stevonnie cut both it and her in one blow. Another dash towards the other carnelian, another cut, another gem falling to the dirt as they moved on.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The quartzes felt the threat and finally converged, marshaling for a real fight. A summoned javelin lanced towards them, and Stevonnie flicked up a panel to stop it dead. The amethyst struck first, her whip tangling around their arm and cracking their armor before they forced through it and stabbed through her chest. Another hard-light javelin struck their back, and though it was blunted away from really hurting them, their armor shattered. They whirled in a fury, moving through the shards of light as they slashed again and again at the offending rose quartz, their sword a blinding flurry in the air. They turned to the last two jaspers remaining, breath ragged. The glow on their body wavered. They took a step.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The wave crashed down on them, and Stevonnie screamed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The veins of light that had afflicted them every time didn’t just feel like a jolt this time. Their gems </span>
  <em>
    <span>burned</span>
  </em>
  <span> as the rejuvenator stripped the power from the hybrid fusion and the energy binding them together snuffed out. Connie was torn away from Steven, hurled apart by pain. As she struggled to her feet, body so tired and so achy that everything was a blinding fog, she heard him groan on the ground. They’d tapped deep into his gem for that power, and he was suffering for it now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The two jaspers had gems in their shoulders like her, one on the left and the other on the right, and Left finally spoke as she looked around at the remnants of the battle. “Moissanite was supposed to keep them talking until the rejuvenator hit. What a mess.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Right smirked. “Didn’t matter. And it’s better this way. Now we get to claim victory over Steven and his human for real.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Claim what you want. I’ll grab Steven. You get the turquoise.” Left started to walk towards her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie propped herself up on her sword, planting the blade in the ground and forcing her trembling legs to still. She shuffled to plant herself between Steven and the oncoming jasper. She’d been human once. She’d fought gems. Never won on her own, but she was bigger now. An adult, with the greater part of a decade of extra experience. But she was exhausted. Her eyes kept falling shut for short moments, and her lungs ached trying to get her enough air.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven had let them burn his power and now he could barely move. She had to be his knight. His captain. She couldn’t let him down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She stared down her foes and came up with a plan.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Back off,” she mumbled. She sunk onto her sword, letting her legs tremble again as she fell to one knee. “Please.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Left approached with a disgruntled huff, barely paying her any mind. She walked as if to move right past Connie, and Connie whimpered a little at her approach. She was ignored. She was nothing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Perfect.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie jammed a fist into her bruised stomach, using the burst of pain and adrenaline to force her body to move. She pushed herself to her feet, and with the momentum of her rise she brought her sword up one-handed to blindside the jasper next to her. She knew she would only get one strike, but her sword was a masterwork, and it only ever took one. It sunk into the side of Left before her head finished turning. Connie pulled it up and through, leaving a gouge across her body. She destabilized without another word, and even the small force of that poof was enough to push Connie back to her knees, this time for real.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Right Jasper’s jaw fell open. Connie panted, pointing with one shaking hand. “You’re next.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Right gawked at her another moment before bursting into laughter. “Stars! You’re the real deal, aren’t you, Connie? I thought the stories about your fusion were all Steven. Guess you’ve been underestimated.” She chuckled. “But, you know, I’ve been a soldier a long, long time. I know a bluff when I see it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie’s heart sank, though she kept it off her face. It was true. She was out of plans, out of strength. Her sword arm felt like she’d torn something on that last blow, and even if it was only incredibly tired muscles, she didn’t think she could raise it again. Even if she did, she didn’t have surprise to her advantage anymore. Right wouldn’t make the same mistake as Left.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Right looked around, making sure they were alone. “Listen, Connie. Red Beryl would kill me if she found out I didn’t eliminate the organic, but with just me around to talk about it, I think I can say it was either you or Steven, and he’s worth more.” The jasper pointed with her battleaxe out into the forest. “Get out of here. I just need him. You fought hard, but it’s over. And I’d rather have the chance to fight you at your best than just finish you off now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Run away. Live to fight another day. Discretion as the better part of valor. There was some sense in the offer as she turned it over in her mind. Connie wouldn’t win against this jasper in her current state, but there was always the chance that she could rescue him if she went off on her own. And a very good chance that further resistance would get her killed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie thought all of this and rejected it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not Steven,” she muttered. “I wasn’t born with a rock in my arm. I was just a normal human girl with lots of books and no friends before we met. I had to fight to stay with him. Sometimes I had to fight twice as hard as he did just to be able to handle things that came easy for him. And even then I was never strong enough to keep up. I had so many chances to stop. It was so hard to keep going sometimes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Right Jasper grinned viciously. “Good argument. It’s not your fight. So turn around, and—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But I stayed.” Connie’s voice had a sudden power behind it that stopped the jasper dead. “Every time. Every time, even when he wanted me to leave, even when he left me behind, I forced him to let me stay by his side. I </span>
  <em>
    <span>chose</span>
  </em>
  <span> to be a knight. I </span>
  <em>
    <span>chose</span>
  </em>
  <span> to be a hybrid like him. And I haven’t changed my mind since then.” Connie pushed herself up again, letting her sword stay where it was stuck in the ground. It was too heavy for her now. She stood, legs solid and head held high, and raised her bare hands to fight to her last breath. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you fight, I’ll just shatter you.” The jasper’s eyes narrowed at her. “You’re weak. Defenseless. You think I won’t kill a human?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know you’ll try. And I don’t care. Steven would fight for me. I’ll fight for him.” Connie glared back. “So you can tell me I can run, that I can let you take him while I go free, but I won’t. I’ve always had that choice. And I will always choose to stay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a spark in her gem.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie hadn’t seen Steven fix the gems. She’d gotten the story after the fact, how they had tapped into their deepest selves to find what made them who they were. How they’d needed a missing piece to put themselves right again. She’d never seen it happen, but she knew it was happening now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie’s gem shone and her matrix flared with blinding light all over her body. She felt power flooding into her again, a strength she hadn’t felt in weeks filling her limbs. She couldn’t help a little laugh at the familiar feeling of being more than human after so long without it. The jasper’s eyes went wide with shock, and Connie grinned as armor formed on her body. The tables had turned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Right Jasper’s mouth curled into a snarl. “No!” She dashed past while Connie was distracted by the power flowing from her gem, flying and raising her axe to bring it down on Steven’s prone, barely-conscious body.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Elation turned to righteous fury in an instant. Space warped around Connie, and as the axe fell it struck an armored chest. She stared up at the jasper from the spot Steven had been lying and growled out, “Don’t touch my Steven.” She grabbed the axe with both hands and pulled it out of Right’s grip before the gem could get her bearings. The jasper raised a fist and brought it down, but Connie was already in motion. She rolled away from the sudden blow and swept a kick at Right’s legs, knocking her to her back. Connie rolled into a kneel with a panel beneath her and rode it to her sword, drawing it from the earth and raising it high as she wheeled back around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine. Fine!” Right rose onto her feet and summoned another axe, then yet another for her other hand. “At least I’ll finally get a worthy fight!” She charged at Connie with a wild grin, ready to swing both huge axes to crush her with brute strength.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie didn’t answer with words. Her panel raised towards one of the axes and her sword drove the other aside, forcing the jasper off balance as she overextended with one arm and was knocked back with the other. Connie didn’t need another opening. The sword flashed forward into the space between Right’s arms, and it was over. A look of calm acceptance came over her defeated opponent before she poofed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie put her sword in its sheath and ran to Steven’s side. He hadn’t fallen completely when they’d traded places, but he was on his hands and knees, panting and struggling to stay upright. “Steven? Steven, Biscuit, talk to me.” She put a hand on his back. “Are you alright?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tired.” He looked up at her and his eyelids fluttered. “Just so tired.” His bloodshot eyes roamed over her arms, seeing her matrix restored to its usual bright blue-green. “How?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie looked down at her own hand. She felt restored. Tired, certainly, and there was some lingering pain in her arm and her belly, but nothing she couldn’t handle. Her gem was back online, and she knew why. “I think I found what made me a gem.” She smiled. “I chose it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your final piece.” A smile tugged at his lips, but didn’t quite stick. “It still works.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie was struck with the realization that Steven, who had already done this before, knew exactly what had brought his gem back to full power the first time. Yet in all their time here, he’d never managed to do it again—and now it was clear that it could have worked. She almost asked, but the exhaustion she saw in every motion of his body held her back. There’d be time for that later.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She stood up and picked him up in an effortless bridal carry (and stars, it was so liberating to have her strength back again) and kissed his head. He was already out cold. “You can rest, Steven. I’ll get us out of here.” She laid him on her panel like a stretcher and brought him around with her as she bubbled the twelve gems they had fought. She wouldn’t send them home, but at least someone would know where to find them after this was all over.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The last gem, the Jasper she’d fought, Connie turned over in her hand. All the gems had something stuck to them, a tiny piece of tech that she didn’t recognize. She peeled it off and looked at it, then set it in her pocket for later. She had a hunch what it was for, but she was willing to wait to test it now that she had her power back. If something happened, she could defend them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For the first time in weeks, Connie stepped forward with confidence, carrying Steven at her side. They headed back into the forest, ready to find the galaxy warp and the way home.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks to loveluckylost for beta reading!</p><p>Sorry to say this, but the last couple of episodes have really made me think hard about these characters. Chapter 10 is a big character moment for them, and I really need to be certain of what I want to do with them. Because of that, I'm going to take a week off to write other things and get my thoughts together about their arcs for the rest of this story. So there won't be a new chapter next week. I'll be back the week after with the next chapter. I'm sorry for the delay, but even without being canon compliant I still want these characters to fit with their canon counterparts if possible, and that will take some thinking. I hope finishing with Connie's victory here at least won't leave you worrying for the next two weeks (though, honestly, I'm sure most of you are more worried about SUF Steven than anyone in this story).</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Change</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>As they search for an escape, Connie and Steven have a heart-to-heart.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This chapter has a piece of art made by my friend loveluckylost! Thank you so much!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Everything was easier now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were no longer wandering blindly, no longer helpless, no longer jumping at every shadow. Steven was still in recovery, but Connie was in charge, and she was strong enough to defend them both. Her turquoise was designed to defend, after all. Now that she’d seen a map, it was easy to keep their location and their destination in her mind, and hovering with Steven on her panel was much faster and easier than walking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The waves still came, day in and day out. But now that she knew herself, she could push it back each time, reinvigorating her gem and restoring her own strength. They lost a little time to each wave, since they couldn’t risk being on a panel when one hit, but even so they had turned a ten-day hike into three days at most.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And the hour-long breaks gave her time to reflect while they waited for the wave to pass.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They’d escaped the forests for a bit today, and they made a stop in some scrubby brushland. Even at its zenith, the red sun didn’t send down enough UV light to burn them. They were free to lounge in the warmth while they waited for the wave to pass so they could continue on.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie tried to spend the hour distracting herself. She tried wondering about their current environs, how the plants here could thrive without rain. She tried reminiscing about home, looking forward to the hope of return. She even tried preparing herself, priming her mind to relive the revelation that sparked her turquoise to life: </span>
  <em>
    <span>I chose this.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>But no matter what she tried, she couldn’t stop the slow crawl of her thoughts back towards Steven. Steven, who had fought this fight before and won, and now seemed entirely unable to replicate the feat. He had barely spoken since the battle around the pre-gem structure, only answering questions she asked him directly. It wasn’t hard to guess what he was thinking about.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But as they sat on the dusty ground and waited, she couldn’t help but speak. “It’s a good thing I got my gem back, huh?” Her voice came out as a dry croak, and she took a drink to wet her throat before she continued, “I just wish you had the same luck.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven’s head sank until his chin hit his chest, and he drew his arms tight around himself. He already knew as well as she did where the conversation would be going. But still he played along with a murmur of “Yeah. Me too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Steven…” She slid close and put a hand on his back, rubbing gently. He tensed at first, but he didn’t ask her to stop, so she kept trying. “You said the first time, the piece you needed was change, right? That’s what reminded your gem of who you are. So, since I got mine to work, have you tried focusing on that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mmm. Yeah. I’ve been trying.” He just kept staring at the ground. “It’s not… it’s not just thinking about it, Connie. It’s more than that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She nibbled her lip, picking words carefully one by one. She didn’t want to upset him. “Do you wanna talk about what else there is?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.” Steven sighed, and finally, for just a moment, he met her gaze. “But I have to, don’t I?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think it’s… very important,” Connie hedged. “I want to help you, but I don’t know how.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His eyes went back down to the dust, and he started absently drawing shapes with one finger. “It’s more than just focusing on it or thinking about it. You have to believe it.” Rough outlines of the gems began to form under his fingers as he thought before speaking. Each sentence came slowly, like he was dragging them out into the red sun. “Amethyst had to believe she had family. Pearl needed to believe she was free. Garnet needed to believe in the truth of love, or something like that. She could probably explain it better.” A smiling, curly-haired face in the dirt. Steven stared at it. “And then me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie waited a long while, trying to let him speak, but when the silence became daunting she gave him a nudge. “You believed that you could change things. So, what? Now you don’t?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He grimaced. “No, not like… It’s not that I don’t have the ability. I still have everything. But now I’m not--I mean, I am, but I don’t…” He groaned, brushing all his drawings back into scattered dust. “Let me think. I need to say it right.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Take your time,” Connie answered. “I’m right here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They nursed water bottles in the alien light, and slowly Connie lay back to enjoy the warmth. She made a panel for her head to keep her hair out of the dust, and she gestured for Steven to follow her. He looked at the panel for a moment, and when he joined her in staring up at the steel-gray sky, he spoke. “Do you remember the talk we had, after the thing with that fusion? The one at Little Homeworld? After we found your sword?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie barely held in a snort. “It was sort of a foundational week of my life. I think I remember pretty well.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He managed a chuckle. “Oh. Yeah. I guess that should’ve been pretty obvious.” He hummed. “You said I was stronger. All the diamond stuff, it made me more than you could keep up with. And you did what you did and you caught up, but… not really?” She could hear the wince in his voice. “Sorry. It’s just, like, you’re really strong now, but a diamond is still stronger. There’s power in me that you can’t match. That no one can. I don’t wanna brag. It doesn’t make me better or smarter, but it’s true.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Somewhere in the back of her head, Connie knew that before her gem, that truth would have hurt her. It </span>
  <em>
    <span>had</span>
  </em>
  <span> hurt her to realize it, way back then. But as she was now, she shrugged. “It was never about being perfectly equal. Just about being able to play in the same league.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But I didn’t earn that like you did. I was just born with it!” Frustration bled into his voice, and he dug his fingers into the dirt. “When I was a kid and I started barely tapping into it, it was already enough that Amethyst started to feel like she wasn’t good enough. I tried to help her, but I couldn’t. I got stronger, and other things came up, and at some point she just stopped caring. After the rebellion was over, strength didn’t matter as much anymore. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven reached with one hand, and Connie met him, weaving his fingers into her own. The dust caught between their fingers, coarse and gritty. “But I was stronger, and I didn’t earn it, and it hurt her. And it hurt you.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re right. After Homeworld, things changed.” Her eyes caught on some creature in the sky, something floating on a balloon like an airborne jellyfish, and she tracked its drifting flight as she spoke. “As determined as I was to get a gem, I haven’t needed it that often. I mean, to fight with. Being a gem hybrid has its perks, I guess.” She reached up to pat the panel their heads rested on. “But really, it just made me more what I wanted to be. Something between human and gem, like you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know.” He sighed, slumping down a little further. “But then I got handed a different kind of power. Everyone tried to put me in charge of the gems. There were a few exceptions, but mostly it felt like the whole gempire </span>
  <em>
    <span>wanted</span>
  </em>
  <span> to listen to me. We liberated so many colonies just by showing up and saying, ‘Hey, new Diamond here, you guys can do whatever! Steven’s orders!’” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He rolled his eyes, gesturing at the air like he could see the assembled gems before him. “It took me a long while to realize that a lot of them, maybe even most of them, didn’t really care about being free--they just didn’t see any reason to fight an order from their Diamond, no matter what it was. And I thought, hey, that’s great! They wanna listen, I sure as heck don’t wanna be in charge. I’ll tell them to do whatever they want and I’ll get rid of all of this power as fast as I can.” He squeezed tight, his fingers trembling in hers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Steven.” Connie’s voice was gentle, but firm. “You can’t blame yourself for this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can’t I?” Steven growled. There was no anger in it--or if there was, it was all reserved for himself. He tried to leap up, banged his head as he found himself too weak to do so, and grumbled as he pushed himself to his feet. “I had the power to stop this. I was a kid, yeah, but I was so focused on not wanting to be in charge that I wasn’t careful. I gave them the freedom to do anything. I didn’t check what they were doing, didn’t leave anyone in charge.” He ground his palms against his eyes. “But gems weren’t just ordered to colonize and make more gems, they were made for it. I should’ve known some of them wouldn’t want to stop just because the orders stopped coming.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His fingers weaved through his hair, and he pulled at it. “I didn’t want to be a Diamond. I turned pink and got some weird speed powers, or time powers. I don’t even know for sure, because I didn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>want</span>
  </em>
  <span> to have even more powers, so I pretended they didn’t exist. And I was so afraid of being a Diamond that I just let the gems do whatever they wanted. I had the power to make things better, to make a change, and I just dropped it!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Things </span>
  <em>
    <span>are </span>
  </em>
  <span>better, though.” Connie stood, and gently she pulled his hands from his hair, untangling the knots forming where he had twisted and pulled until she could bring them down to hold between their chests. “You were barely a teenager, and you did your best. And your best was good. It didn’t fix everything, I guess, but there are millions of gems who are happier now because you gave them the chance to be.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But I took their purpose away. How many of them wanted it back and weren’t willing to ask?” He sagged, leaning against her to put his head on her shoulder, and she stroked his back. “I had the power to change things, and I gave it up to be free. After Emerald’s crew came and we fought them off, I knew there would be more like her who wanted things to go back, and I… I just didn’t try to do anything about it. I was older then, old enough to think about checking in, guiding a little more, just in case. But instead, I hoped I was wrong. I let it go.” He pulled away and sat down in the dirt again, tracing the facets of his gem. “I know it’s not my fault that Moissanite is doing this. But I think it was my responsibility to stop it. I’m the Diamond who had the power to change things, but I didn’t fix the gempire.” He grimaced at the admittance, as if his failings were bitter on his tongue even spoken. “I just took away the power at the top. And now what?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven looked up at her, pleading for an answer as he finally voiced the questions that had buried him in the long weeks they’d been trapped. “Do I try to take control again to stop her? Do I give all the gems a chance to go back and do their old jobs in a better way if they want? Will they listen if I try? Do I even have the </span>
  <em>
    <span>right </span>
  </em>
  <span>to ask them to just because I was born with Mom’s gem? And what if I don’t want to? Is it right for me to refuse to do it just because I don’t want to be just another Diamond? I just… I don’t know.” And again his face fell until he was staring down into the dust. “I don’t know if I can change things. And I don’t know if I should. And until I figure it out, I don’t know who that makes me anymore.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Steven…” For a long while, that was all Connie could say. She tried to keep pity off of her face, but it was impossible when he was so defeated. She didn’t pretend to have an answer to all his questions, not when she was already in turmoil over making a change as comparatively small as reviving her father. But in the end, she decided she didn’t need an answer.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know what the right choice is, Steven. You’re right. You have that gem, and that makes you different. You have to consider what you can do with it. I don’t.” She knelt and put her forehead against his. “But it’s still </span>
  <em>
    <span>your </span>
  </em>
  <span>choice. No one will force you to take any control you don’t want. And whatever you choose to do, I’ll be with you. If you want to let the gems be free and just let them take care of these problems themselves, that’s just fine. Even if you decide you need to take the reins again and offer the gems a better direction, I’ll still support you. And if you do, I know you’ll do it like Steven, not a Diamond.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know,” he said. His breath came ragged against her cheek. “It doesn’t fix it. But knowing you’ll be here no matter what… it helps me keep it together. Thank you, Connie.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry I can’t do more.” She kissed his cheek. “But thank you for telling me. Anytime you want to talk, I’m here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were still sitting like that when the next wave came, but for once they managed not to knock their heads together. They dusted themselves off, boarded Connie’s panel, and flew towards home.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>
    
  </span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>Connie could pinpoint their location on the globe she’d seen to within a thousand meters, but somehow the sight of their destination still caught her by surprise. It was scarcely bigger than the place they’d seen before, only the size of a small house. Connie stayed in front, armor and panel on guard, but this place was either undefended or the defenses had broken down over the past eight million years, and the forests of this world had reclaimed it. If it wasn’t for the boxy, irregular shape and her hyper-focused spatial awareness, she might have missed the vine-covered structure entirely.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It took a few moments to find the door and the entrance panel amidst the overgrowth, and she swallowed hard as she gestured at it. “If it’ll open for anyone, it’s you, Steven.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Here goes nothing.” He closed his eyes and placed his palm on the pad. There was a long, tense moment before the door hissed and tried to open, grinding a few inches apart before stopping.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hope the inside fared better than the outside.” Connie chuckled nervously. She took a deep breath and shuffled sideways through the gap. Even holding his breath it took some wiggling and tugging, but somehow Steven was able to squeeze through as well.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Whatever species had designed the gems clearly hadn’t been much for decoration. Once again the building was nearly bare, save for a terminal similar to the last one they’d seen, and a familiar crystalline shape connected to it by half a dozen thick cables. Connie’s heart pounded in her chest. “The first galaxy warp.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven approached it slowly. “Think it still works?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The first place did.” Connie stepped onto it with him. “It might not work like the ones we’re used to, though. We don’t know if the people who made this had gems. They probably didn’t.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even so, they stood upon the pad and wished to be home for an uncomfortably long time before resigning themselves to the fact that it wouldn’t work.</span>
</p><p><span>“Okay. It’s okay!” She could hear the desperation Steven was trying to keep out of his voice. “Let me just turn this on, and you’ll figure it out!” He walked with unnerved speed to the terminal and placed his hand upon it. Again there was a too-long pause before the familiar mental voice intoned, </span><em><span>Command-class 04 detected. Access authorized. Adjusting linguistics. </span></em><span>Steven turned back to her.</span> <span>“You can figure it out, right?”</span></p><p>
  <span>“That message was clearer than the last one. Maybe this computer is in better shape!” Connie stepped up to the terminal, trying to keep her hands from shaking on the keypad. “Okay. Searching for… warp.” She tapped out a few glyphs and hit execute, and almost instantly a blank result screen popped up. “Nothing. Galaxy… no. At least the searches are quick?” She let out another nervous laugh as “pad” came up empty as well. “Transport. Transfer. Interstellar.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Travel?” Steven hedged, twisting his hands anxiously.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing.” Connie wiped the sweat from her hands onto her ruined pants as search after search came up empty. “Transit? Space? Teleport, teleporter, teleporting, come on!” She groaned. “What else is there?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They sat in silence for a few moments. “What about ‘network’?” He asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll try.” She squeezed her eyes shut and started the search. There was a delay this time, several seconds, before a single result appeared at the top of the terminal. “I can’t even read what that says. It must be something super technical. It’s got network in the name, but…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just open it!” Steven reached past her and tapped the console, and a half-corrupted transgalactic map filled the screen. There was another moment of hushed silence before dots began to appear. Each was labeled only with a bright red “Unknown Destination”. But more importantly, as Connie hovered over one in an uncorrupted part of a neighboring galaxy, a large green button labeled “CONNECT” filled the bottom of the screen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Relief flooded into her. “It can see the gem galaxy warps!” For the first time in days she let out an honest, unworried laugh. “We’ve got a way home!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A grin crossed his face for a moment, a sight Connie had sorely missed, before he looked closer at the map with growing worry. “I’m glad we have a way back, but it feels like we’re abandoning the gems here. They need our help.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Steven, we set out on an exploration mission. We weren’t ready for what was out here.” Her eyes scanned over the map, marking the swathe of dots around their planet, each one a gem colony trapped within the rejuvenator’s range. “We’ll go home, and we’ll tell the Diamonds and the Crystal Gems everything, and we’ll find a way to stop this. We’re not abandoning them. We’re just regrouping. What could we do if we stayed here? We’re not even on the right planet to stop it. We need a way to reach Origin, and we need help when we get there.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...Yeah. I guess that’s true.” He sighed. “But how are we supposed to know which one is Earth?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who gives a shit?!” She threw her hands into the air. “Any other warp will be able to send us to Earth. Literally anywhere with a proper galaxy warp is better than this abandoned dump!” She glanced around the map, zooming in and out a few times before selecting one. “Here, this one. It’s in the habitable zone of its star, and it’s a galaxy and a half away from the rejuvenator waves. That’s good enough for me!” She hit the button and half-dragged, half-carried Steven onto the pad. “Let’s go home.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a hum, then a whine, then a screeching shriek, but before they could do more than worry, the pad lit up and the light took them away.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Oops.</p><p>I'll be frank. After Fragments and everything that came out of Future after it, I was disappointed to the extreme. I won't get into it deeply, but the idea of writing more fun space adventures with the lens of Steven having major trauma was very distasteful to me. I had started this story with the intent to include the basic character traits of Steven and Connie in Future, though not the events. But after GP and Fragments, I was no longer able to do that. It was a struggle to care about the show at all. And while I tried to write regardless, it didn't happen. It took a few months for me to move past that. I want to finish this. But I had to rework my ideas, because I could no longer use Steven's arc in Future to inform him in this story. If Steven had trauma in this story, I would feel very, very bad about pushing him into a new adventure like that. So that doesn't exist here. </p><p>That meant that even after I started to feel up to writing, the arc for Steven needed to be reworked, both to fit what came before and what I want to do after. And since this is basically the chapter where Steven's troubles get laid bare, I couldn't just work on the outline and then write it. The outline had to be redone first, and that took a lot of thinking and talking with Hadithi and loveluckylost about what I could do to make it work, and make it something I would not feel dirty writing. And I think I've done that. I've gotten back into it. I don't have a backlog anymore, so the next update is up in the air, but the outline is redone and I'm working again. I hope in the next two weeks I'll have it ready to go, and be back into the writing rhythm.</p><p>Thanks to loveluckylost again for the artwork as well as beta reading the chapter, and to Hadithi for pushing me to get back on the horse and write again. This would not have been continued without their encouragement.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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